Mutated
by soraxtsuna123
Summary: America and Russia were at a standoff during the Cold War, waiting for the other to move. A bomb wasn't supposed to drop, that is, until one did. But something happened to the bomb, muffling the explosion in Ponyboy's school. Somehow, Pony survived and left with a new set of powers that are both dangerous and helpful to those around him.
1. Chapter 1

America was in a state of panic. All citizens jump at the slightest noise or the smallest dot in the sky. We have constant drills of ducking and covering at random moments of the day to ready ourselves for if a bomb dropped—though I don't see how it would work. I guess it's just for reassurance and to not have screaming citizens blocking the street or if the bomb was small, the ducking will cover them from shattered glass or rubble. But that seemed unlikely and we would be dead either way.

The two countries were at a standoff. Tensions were ocean-thick as we waited for the other nation to make a move, daring to try something. The two countries sent threats to the other. America claims that both countries would wipe each other out. I didn't tell anyone, but I believe that Russia could destroy us before we even destroy half of their country since Russia has more and larger bombs than us.

I didn't worry much for Russia dropping their bombs since Russia, if they did, would probably start near the west coast because the wind current will push the radiation inwards to kill more people.

I was sitting at my seat in the back corner of the room. My eyes trailed to the clock on the wall. Only about a minute more until school ended and I could go home for the weekend. The second-hand turned slowly, stretching the day longer than it should have. Right on the clock, the bell shrieked and everybody started loud banter. I, myself, didn't question that the bell sounded different than usual.

I was collecting my school supplies, jamming them into my battered backpack. The room was being evacuated by the time I swung on the bag. The bell was still ringing… That's when I knew something was wrong.

I barely had enough time to look outside the window to the large plane that was flying straight towards my school. It dropped a massive bomb and I was frozen, staring as it neared then hit the ground. I could hear it clink and crack from where I stood but nothing happened. Everything was calm. The bomb just sat there. Something was wrong with the bomb and, for a second, I thought that it wasn't going to detonate and everything was going to be alright. Then, I saw the smallest spark-the smallest flash of light- in the bomb and screamed, "Get down!"

I hit the floor, curling up in a ball and covering my neck as the window shattered and massive heat that felt hotter than lava washed over me. It felt like my body was on fire as I floated in the giant hydrogen ball we call a sun—like my skin was peeling off in large chunks.

There were screams around me and cries. I think I screamed myself. My throat, lips and mouth were parched and my lungs burned. There were quite a few painful spots on my body were I was bleeding. Something cold touched my cheek and it sizzled, burning me. I was crying but, for the first time ever, crying hurt.

I somehow managed to pry open my eyes and wished that I hadn't. My eyes tingled as I glanced at the wall that was almost rubble. The window was blown in, spread out in small shards around me. The floor creaked and I knew I had to move. I didn't know when the building will collapse.

My body complained, refusing to move but my fear was like adrenaline. My arms under me were red, blistering. Blood dripped on the floor as I stared down, moving to my knees and then to my feet, almost falling back over. I touched my face only to pull back with wet hands. Blood poured from my nose, ears, and eyes like they had their own little river. My legs were like gelatin, wobbling like there was an earthquake with each step. My stomach lurched and turned as I headed towards the door that was blow open, wanting to vomit at the bodies that were burnt and unrecognizable, crushed by rubble with fire slowly consuming them.

I continued to step forward, the weight of the world on my shoulders and gravity pushing me down, inviting me to the floor. Pebbles of the ceiling fell near me, and without control, my head whipped towards it, hurting me even more. I made it out of the classroom to the hallway that was even more horrific than my classroom. There was more fallen rubble, more electrical wires, more bodies, more glass, and more blood. Each body unrecognizable. What made it even scarier was that some of them were still alive, crying and yelling out for help or for someone to just end them right there.

I continued forward, somehow getting through alright. My neck felt like it was about to crack by how many times my head whipped around for the smallest thing. It was like my senses were out of control but I passed that for being in shock.

I felt about dead by the time I saw the entrance of the school. The first step I took out in the sunlight, I felt like screaming again. The sunlight hurt. It burned me. My vision blurred. I wanted to retreat back in the building but I fell over and everything went dark.

 **o-o-o**

I inhaled deeply, trying to grasp air that wouldn't quite fill my lungs. My eyes flung open wide. Everything hurt. I tried to glance around, heart stopping at what I saw. I was levitating over the ground, about one and a half of me up. That wasn't even the worse part. When I looked at my body, I was scattered and glowing a misty gold. The particles of my body were like a visible gas that was spread apart in a mass. I moved my hands in front of my vision and saw them form and separate every second. When they formed, I tried to touch my hands together but they would instantly scatter.

I couldn't think straight to figure out what was happening or how to prevent this because I couldn't breathe correctly. I was terrified.

After several moments of freaking out, I calmed down to a stressed-out level. I thought I was going to disappear but I didn't. I sucked in a heavy breath but I couldn't find any explanation on what happened to me. But as soon as I calmed down, the particles started to form back together until I was whole and solid again. My body fell from its floating position and onto the ground harshly. I groaned as I sat up, touching my whole body to make sure that my particles stay in the same place. I looked at my body with interest in what happened and saw that my clothes were scorched and had many holes singed into it but my skin showed no signs of any distress.

Once that was secure, I finally took a look around me. I instantly recognized the park that was near my house. No one was there. In fact, no one was even on the streets. I looked around more and saw smoke emitting into the atmosphere. What the hell was happening? I couldn't remember what happened. I started to walk back to my house to see if anyone was there and to maybe get some answers.

I rubbed my tingling skin through the hot streets. Everything about me felt weird.

I stood outside my house. From what I could see through the window, everyone was inside. Soda was sitting on the couch, head in his hands like he was distressed. In fact, everyone inside was. I made my way to the door and opened it, cringing at the loud screech from the hinges. All attention turned towards me and, for the longest second, everything was silent. Then everything turned to uproar after all of their faces morphed into surprise and shock.

"P-Ponyboy!" my brother, Soda, exclaimed, rushing towards me but it was in slow motion. He almost looked like he was standing still. When he wrapped his hands around me, everything went back to normal. He pulled me in a tight hug. When he pulled away, I saw that his face was brimming with joy.

"Damn, the kid's alive," Steve said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. Even though we both dislike each other, he looked relieved.

I frowned at his words. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be alive?" Again, everything went silent. They looked at each other, knowing something that I didn't. "What is going on?"

"You don't remember?" Darry asked.

"Remember what?"

"The bomb. You were in it. There was a fault in the bomb so only the school and some of the surrounding homes are gone. You were in it. Everyone caught was supposed to be dead."

Memories shoved its way back into my head. Fire and unbearable heat. My skin was peeling and pink; my legs were jelly. I stumbled through the wires that hung from the ceiling, sprinkling electricity. Iron bent like it was made from rubber. My vision was sketchy, like I was skipping some parts my memory. While I was walking, a chunk fell on top of me. A sharp piece of metal fell down, melting itself through my hand. I screamed as my nose filled with a more intense smell of burning flesh.

I pushed myself from the ground, knocking off the rubble and using my other hand to pull out the iron, ignoring the scorching pain and steam.

I continued to walk through the dead, burnt-up bodies. My stomach turned and I had to swallow down the vomit that creeped up my throat. I shut my eyes tightly before opening them again.

Everything was back to normal. My vision rimmed with darkness but I blinked it away. I looked at my body but there was still no signs of any injury. Something told me that there would be trouble if I blacked out now.

"Are you alright?" Soda asked, eyeing me in concern.

I shook my head. "I remembered everything."

"Do you need to sit or lie down?"

"I'm fine," I lied. I really needed answers. "So… no one's alive?"

"No. Steve, Johnnycakes, and I were lucky to not be there today," Two-Bit said.

"How am I alive?"

"Who knows? All that matters is that you're still alive," Soda said.

"You should get some rest. You don't look so hot. We are taking you to the hospital to check you out tomorrow," Darry said.

"No, no. No hospital. I'm fine."

"You have to go."

"No, I don't!" I pushed myself away from them on some strange impulse.

"What's the matter with you? Why can't you go get a check-up?"

"I don't know why!" I swallowed my saliva. "Just… Just leave me alone for right now, alright? If anything happens, we'll go."

Darry didn't look at all pleased but he nodded. "If anything happens…" he warned.

The last part of the day went by in a blur. I cleaned myself and wanted to see what was on TV but I was too tired to hold up my eyelids.

 **o-o-o**

I was woken up the next morning by a feeling of falling and a dipping of the stomach. My eyes flew open. I threw the covers off, pushed myself off of the bed and grabbed the hand that was reaching for me and twisted it enough for it to hurt but not damage.

"Whoa there," Two-Bit warned, looking at me incredulously.

"Two-Bit… What are you doing?" I asked, careful not to wake up Sodapop. "Were you trying to scare me?"

"Of course not."

I gave him a yeah-right-you-liar look. "Right…"

Two-Bit looked at my hand which was still gripping tightly onto his. "Can you let go now?"

"Oh, sorry." I retracted my hand. Two-Bit laughed before walking out of the room. Soda woke up soon after and left to go to work. I would have gone to school but evidently, there was no school to go to. I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that. Happy because the school is gone or sad because everyone's dead.

I was lying in bed, thinking everything through. I stared at my hands, moving them forward and trying my best to block memories of the explosion. I turned my hands over and examined it before turning it again. I moved and flexed my fingers around in a weird, creepy way and almost drawn back when it started to have a golden aura. But the glow calmed me, comforted me and warmed me in a way that I couldn't explain. I continued to move my fingers, playing with the glow that changed shape with each movement until it formed a shaky ball of gold that balanced on the top of my fingers.

In seconds, unfortunately, the ball spiraled out of control and flung of, unraveling to my desk, hitting a book, causing it to glow in the mist like my hand. I pulled back my hand, pulling the book out of its place. My hands shook. I huffed. My hand felt heavy, like a thousand bricks were placed upon it. I dropped my hand and the book fell down on the surface. My hand and the book stopped glowing and I was left beat. It was only the morning and I could take another long rest.

I was too psyched to rest though. I had just moved an object without even touching it. Whatever the nuclear explosion did to me, it did wonders. Well, at least, so far. I have no idea what the consequences would be, if there are any. The radiation must have messed with my molecular formula in a way that they didn't lock together into a solidified form but instead gave my brain full power over the molecules.

I flexed my fingers on my arm again, making the same ball and flung it at the book. It took me a couple of tries to hit the book and each try was exhausting. I tried to pick it up again but it only went up a centimeter or two before my arm gave way.

"Yeah, I'm done," I murmured to myself before crashing back on the bed, falling into another deep slumber.

 **o-o-o**

 **I based Ponyboy's new abilities off of the Scarlet Witch but there is going to be a tweak to it. This is for the love of the new Marvel movie, Civil War.**

 **I had started a sequel to Swap Kiss and posted a chapter but deleted it due to lack of readers. What do you guys think? Should I re-upload it and deal with two stories at a time or what?**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders**


	2. Chapter 2

My hands glowed gold as I balanced the orb on my hand. I had gained some control over my powers since I had cooped myself in my room. I can now hold the orb longer and throw it almost accurately. I can lift the book a couple of inches but I can hardly move it anywhere but up. I wanted to sleep for the third time today but I pushed myself to continue my practice.

I lifted the book again, moving my fingers in a strange motion like the last hundred times and brought up my hand. The book followed, going higher than it ever did before. My arms were sore and trembling like I was having a seizure. I couldn't hold the book any longer and dropped it. I couldn't keep doing this today but I wouldn't get better if I kept stopping like I do.

I rested my hands on my temples and closed my eyes, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. When I opened them, I shuddered. The molecules of my legs were scattered in a cloud just like when I woke up from the explosion. I took another shaky breath, willing the molecules to form my shape again. That was enough practice for now. I needed a break; maybe get a pop.

Shakily, I got up and left my room to crash on the couch after grabbing a coke from the cooler. Two-Bit stared at me, raising his eyebrow. "You look like hell." He took a swig of his brew.

"I feel like hell. I sort of feel blitzed, but I'm not," I answered before continuing on with an excuse to not make it seem like the radiation did this. "I'm just emotionally stressed after what happened, so everything is copacetic."

Two-Bit gave me a look before shrugging and going back to the program on the television. I got bored quickly and left back to my room to practice some more.

I sat down on my bed and looked at the book that sat on the desk innocently. I stared at my hand and let it glow gold before making a small ball and let it spin before moving it sloppily around my fingers and balancing on the tip a few times. I repeated the process over and over, each time improving. It was hard. I was sweating profoundly. Again, I glanced at the book and threw the ball at it, hitting it on the first try. I lifted the book a foot in the air and held it. It was harder to hold it than to move it around so I moved it higher and started to slowly fling it around the room.

When I was bored, I lowered the book, arms shaking from exhaustion. I must have been a masochist because I wanted to continue. It hurt but using this power was so addicting. I moved to another object. There was a lamp in the room. Instead of putting the golden mist into a ball, I just threw out my hand, seeing a long horizontal line shoot out. It hit the lamp alright, but it also hit many other objects in the room. They all glowed gold and I accidently lifted them in surprise.

It felt like a million tons on my arms. I held in a yell of pain. I wanted to drop everything but the objects would crash onto the ground and make a bunch of noise, alerting everyone in the house. I continued to hold them. Each second it felt like I was losing more control of my powers and soon, items were just flying around the room rapidly. Weight was lifted from me but I was still in too much pain to control the objects that were crashing into walls, shelves, lights, and almost hitting myself. I would have been pelted by a chair and a dresser if it wasn't for my faster reflexes.

"What are you doing in there?" Soda asked. I cursed internally. He was back from work.

I didn't know how to answer. I panicked and just let everything drop in a loud crash. Loud footsteps came towards my room. The door handle started to turn and I quickly sent out a golden blast to the door, holding it shut.

"Hey, what the… Unlock the door!" Great, Darry's home too.

"One moment!"

While holding the door, I used my other hand to start pushing things back in place as quickly as I could. When everything was in place I got to the door, about to open it when I saw the lamp I was originally supposed to lift lying on the ground.

Everything turned to slow motion around my when the door started to open itself. Quickly, I sent out a ball of gold to the lamp and lifted it to the ceiling. I hid my glowing hand suspiciously behind my back.

Soda, Darry and Two-Bit entered my room. "What's been going on in here?" Darry demanded, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Nothing," I said, slapping myself in the forehead mentally.

"What was that noise?"

"My bookshelf fell down when I tried to get a book." None of them looked like they bought my lie. It was a stupid lie.

"Something looks different about this room. Something's missing."

"What are you talking about? Everything's the same as ever. Maybe the shelf is a couple centimeters different than original."

Soda exchanged his glance from the room to me. His eyebrows furrowed. "What happened to your eyes?"

"Huh?" I reached my hand under one of my eyes, but, of course, I couldn't see my eyes like that. "What's wrong with them?"

"They're gold."

"What?" Crap. They must change colors when I use my powers. I needed to make an excuse and fast. "Er… Maybe it's the lighting. But, anyways, I want to get some reading in. Gone with the Wind is a really long book. 1,037 pages of greatness."

"You've read that book a hundred times already."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," I said sarcastically.

"Just don't drop the bookcase again."

"Alright." I closed the door when they left and breathed out the air I was holding in, dropping my hand from exhaustion. The lamp fell from the ceiling and I had to overexert myself to catch it before it crashed into the ground. I dropped to my knees. Everything was painful, like I was just recently in the explosion. My body trembled. My heart felt like it was about to leap out of my chest. Chunks of me drifted away. The room spun around me a thousand miles per hour. My stomach lurched and I could feel the little food I ate rise. I covered my mouth, gagging and covered my chest. I tried to gasp for breath but couldn't. The corners of my vision strained and darkened. The last thing I felt was my side hitting the ground.

 **o-o-o**

 _I stood in an endless room of white walls. I couldn't see the end. It would have been a boundless amount of white and blank space if the floors weren't dark. Bodies lie in piles around me. Their bodies were scorched and unrecognizable. I couldn't move, there were so many of them. The air smelt like smoke and burning flesh._

 _I covered my mouth with my hands and tried to get past them but I kept stepping on limbs that turned to ashes. Their heads turned to me, blank eyes staring into my soul. Their hands reached out to me, some grabbed onto my legs, immobilizing me more by the second but they kept crumbling in front of me, leaving piles of ash that piled up like a casket. The white walls turned dark as my sight was replaced with ash. I held my breath until I couldn't any longer. My lungs burned and I desperately broke through the ash, moving my arms around like a cyclone._

 _Behind me, I heard a groan and turned around to a title wave of corpses. My heart dropped and I ran forward, stepping on the bodies like tile stones, each one turning to ash. I kept sprinting forward, trying to outrun the wave. Hands grabbed onto me, slowing me down. The wave reached me in seconds and engulfed me. I tried to pull myself up but that proved to be difficult because I kept being dragged back down._

 _My head surfaced after nearly suffocating. Hands kept trying to grab me and drag me back down but I kept myself above the bodies. Hands grabbed my face, clawing at my skins with sharp fingernails, peeling off my skin into nothing was left. I screamed as I was pulled back down the stack of bodies._

 **o-o-o**

My eyes flung open. I was looking downwards. My back was pressed against the ceiling. Soda was on the bed sleeping, unaware of anything that I just been or going through. I sighed in relief and lowered myself. Everything was as normal as it would be. Nothing was going to change, that is, until I dug deeper into the hole.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 _ **Dorianimeyaoilover**_ **: It's such a great movie. You'll love it. There are a lot of fight scenes for Black Widow and the actor for Spider-Man, Tom Holland, is amazing. There were so many feels.**

 _ **CriminalOutsider'sGirl14:**_ **This will be my focus but I will update the other story once in a while. Thanks. :)**

 _ **White collar black wolf**_ **: Thank you. The other story is back up.**

 _ **BunnyLuvsU**_ **: Thank you and it is back up but the updates will be slow compared to this one. You'll have to find out what he does with his new abilities.**

 _ **LOK**_ **: Yes, it is very similar to that story but this time I'm not going to make him overpowered. Ponyboy will have a lot of things that he could do with the power he has though.**

 _ **StayingGoldSince2002**_ **: Whoa, chill xD. Haha. Sadly, it is not the first. I had made a similar story not too long ago but there are a lot more mistakes with grammar and I was a lot lazier in that. There are also a few more stories with greasers getting superpowers but all of them, I think, were abandoned.**

 _ **PercyboyCade**_ **: Thank you. :) I hope that I can please you with my updates.**

 _ **Cookieswafflesandfanfic (Anya):**_ ***Starts fangirling* CIVIL WAR! I really wish I can just blow out and ramble on about it here but I can't. Unfortunately, most of my stories in the past were trash. I've been working really hard so that my stories could be tolerable. Think of what would happen if you were in public and doing the Scarlet Witch hand movements xD People would look at you strangely. Unless you were in public and somehow passed by without being noticed.**

 _ **Status- rad but sad**_ **: Thank you and I plan to continue.**


	3. Chapter 3

I was sitting on the counter inside the gas station that my brother, Soda, worked at. I watched him flirt with chicks through the door. Steve was in the garage making adjustments on a car that was just brought in about half an hour ago. I fiddled with a candy bar on the counter, flipping it in the air occasionally with my powers when I knew no one was looking. Sighing, I slid off of the counter to head into the garage, plopping myself on a greasy stool.

Steve payed me no attention. Occasionally, he would reach his grimy hands into the toolbox and grope around for an appropriate tool.

Golly, I was so bored. I probably wouldn't be if Darry didn't force me out of the house and said that I needed fresh air as if there wasn't fresh air _inside_ the house.

The door to the shop opened. There was giggling and I could hear Soda's voice. I didn't want to intrude or anything so I stayed in the same spot even though I rather not be in the same room as Steve.

Another person opened the door minutes later. I could only imagine a horde of chicks rushing inside. The giggling quieted down until one of them screamed, followed by the others. It wasn't an excited scream. It was a scream of fear. There were shouts from an unknown male voice before there was a gun shot.

Steve rolled out from under the car and ran through the door without giving me a second look. I crept towards the door that was about to be shut and held it open a crack to see what was going on. A masked man was demanding money. Everyone seemed to be fine. So that means the gunshot was just a warning.

"Put the money in this bag!" the man demanded, throwing a pillowcase at Soda. Soda didn't budge. Steve slowly crept towards the man who didn't notice the slight movements. The broads were all in a corner, cowering; not knowing how to help.

"Soda, don't do it," Steve countered, glaring.

"Do you want to die?"

Steve smirked—I didn't know why though. Anyone in that position would be shaking in their boots. That's when I saw it. The slightest shake of the hand. The gun the man was clutching until his fingers were white, couldn't keep the gun straight. That means he might be nervous and bluffing but I couldn't be certain. Steve took another step forward, this time the man pointed his gun towards him.

Soda lunged forward, tackling the man down. Surprisingly, the armed man held onto the gun through the fall. "Get off of me!" the man screamed, pointing the gun at Soda's stomach. Soda felt the cool metal, freezing in place. The man hesitated, giving Soda some time to try to scramble off of him. Panicking, the man accidently pulled the trigger.

Time slowed down for me. Instinctively, I pushed open the door, sending a blast of gold at Soda and pulling my hand, sending him flying away from the man. Time sped back up and the bullet shot into the chipped ceiling. While everyone was looking at the ceiling, I flung the gun out of his hands, skidding it towards Steve. He picked it up and I disappeared back into the garage to the old phone mounted on the wall. I quickly called the fuzz to come and arrest the man before joining everyone in the room.

Steve held the man at gunpoint. "I called the fuzz," I informed.

The police came soon and questioned everyone and took the man away. When the police and the girls left, Steve said, "That was a nice dodge, Soda."

"Yeah? I don't know what happened."

"What do you mean?"

"I was trying to move out of the way when I was picked up—"

"Picked up? Soda, no one picked you up."

"That's why I was confused. I was picked up and thrown before the bullet could be shot." Soda rubbed his head. "It doesn't make sense."

Steve frowned, eyebrows furrowing. He was about to say something but changed his mind and went back into the garage.

I looked at Soda and said, "I'm going to walk home."

On my way home, a police car sped by, siren blaring. I didn't think much of it until a couple more passed by in the direction as the first car. It didn't take long to find where the police went. They were surrounding the exact police car that held the man in the station. Some policemen were lying on the ground, unconscious. Guns were pointed at the man that almost shot my brother. He looked like he was scared but still didn't drop the gun he had stolen.

I closed my eyes when I heard the volley of gunshots before there were shouts of surprise. I slowly opened my eyes, expecting to see a body torn apart by dozens of bullets but nothing was there besides bullet holes around the area where the man once stood.

I shot my head up to see him high in the air, knees bent as if he had jumped. He looked down at us and landed on the roof of a building before starting to jump away quickly. The policemen entered their cars and chased the man.

I stared, fixated on the spot he was while in the air. Is it possible? Was I not alone? Were there some survivors? No human could jump that high without the radiation mutating them. He must have been in one of the surrounding houses around the school. I had to catch up with him and ask him. What if he thinks that he's alone too?

Excitement filled my chest and I started to follow him. With each second, he got farther away. I couldn't catch up with him at this rate. I couldn't force him back with my powers—I don't even think my range is good. I let my hand glow and touched my chest. My whole body lit up in gold. With one hand I tried to move myself but I was too heavy to lift so I started to move all of my fingers on my hands. I lifted from the ground, yelping in surprise. I continued to move my hands around, lifting higher until everyone looked like ants. I jerked my hand and I flew forward towards the man at a frightening speed that made my stomach flip.

I passed the man, slowing down to keep my distance. I tried to lower myself but ended up freefalling. My body collided with his in mid-jump and we both plummeted down into a back alley, yelling. Before I hit the ground, I hit myself with a glowing ball, skidding to a stop inches away. I let go and dropped down and getting on my feet.

The man groaned, haven't managed to stop his fall. His arm was twisted up in a weird angle and gravel poked out of his skin.

"What the hell…" he muttered. He looked at me, brown, glaring eyes flashing gray. He calmed down and pointed the gun at me with one hand; regaining his nervous complex. I shot my hands up to tell him that I was unarmed at not planning on doing anything. "Why did you knock me out of the sky, kid?"

"I—You're—" I tried to say, not knowing how to start this.

"Come on, we don't have all day."

"Were you in the explosion?"

He looked shocked but nodded. "Yeah, what of it? Were you too?" He lowered the gun a bit.

"Yeah. I thought I was the only one."

"Yeah? I thought I was going to die. My house collapsed on me. I have nothing left."

"So you decided to rob a gas station?"

"I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for my gun flying out of my hands into a worker." He furrowed his eyebrows. "Wait a moment, you were there. You were that boy. _You_ prevented me from getting money."

I backed away slowly as he raised the gun again, shooting a bullet from rage. Before I could even think of anything, my hands glowed and I turned them counterclockwise in a huge circle. A gold, transparent shield formed in front of me. The bullet crashed into the shield, cracking it greatly but managing to hold the bullet from reaching me. I winced at the jolt of pain that passed through me when the bullet hit. I dismantled the shield by pushing it all into an orb and threw it towards the man. I made sure to drop the bullet on the ground on the way. The man glowed gold and I picked him up with a shaky inhale of breath. He was so heavy.

The man struggled against my hold, making it harder to hold him still. After a short time, he stopped moving. I thought he was going to escape with his powers but he didn't. "You're not trying to escape with your powers?" I asked.

"My leg muscles only got more powerful. I don't have some snazzy ability like yours or anyone else. Besides, us freaks got to stick together…"

"Anyone else?" I let go of him and he landed on his feet, dropping the gun on accident like it was a hundred pounds. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he breathed out, closing his eyes. "I'm just winded from carrying that."

"It's only a small hand-held."

"Yes. I used to be able to carry one like it was a feather but then the bomb dropped. I think because of my durable muscles, I lose the strength everywhere else. I can't even buy a bag of food from the grocery store without feeling like I'm about to die. There has to be side effects to all of this. This is also happening to everyone else."

"Everyone else? There are more survivors?"

"Each and every one has a weird power—well, at least the few that I met. Each one, not friendly. They seem to think that they could get what they want."

"You tried to do the same thing."

"Tried. I had nothing to lose anyways." Sirens were getting closer. "That is my sign to leave. I assure that we won't see each other again." Before I could catch him, he jumped into the air and away. I didn't bother to go after him again. The police car passed by. There were more people like me—more survivors with powers; each one dealing with confusion and hell with the side effects. I wonder what's going to happen with me.

 **o-o-o**

 **Hey, if you want to create a character that will appear in future chapters momentarily like the man in this chapter, PM me your ideas for the character. These characters won't be big and most likely be in one chapter, if not they will be mentioned later on. They are for helping Ponyboy in his learning and survival.**

 **Here's everything you need: Age, personality, quick summary of what they look like, power/ mutation, neutral or evil, quick summary of home/ school life before explosion, how they will meet Ponyboy, gender.**

 **If anyone has a similar power or mutation than another character, one of them will have their power changed. I might also change somethings about them if needed. Name will not be given to them because they won't be important characters. I will distribute side effects personally unless you have a really good one. All credit to characters will be given to you. Thank you.**

 **Replies:**

 _ **White collar black wolf**_ **: Thank you. :)**

 _ **Cookieswafflesandfanfic**_ **: Same! That would trip me out.**

 _ **Guest**_ **: Thank you!**


	4. Chapter 4

I was sitting in the living room, watching a cartoon on the television. The radiation from the explosion still made the days unbearably hot and no one wanted to go outside. Darry was in his armchair, reading today's newspaper and Soda was getting ready to go to work. Everyone else was just lounging around and lazily watching the television.

Darry all of a sudden sucked in a deep breath and muttered something under his breath.

"What happened?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"America declared war with Russia because of the bomb that they dropped."

Everything became silent. I didn't know what to think. A part of me wanted to just pass it on, knowing that the end of the war will come but another part of me was terrified. There will not be a winner unless there was something or someone with unnatural abilities but that was again an impossible feat. Who, from the mutated people, would be dumb enough to risk showing their powers? But, however this all ends, I will protect the gang, even if it does mean revealing my secret.

Anyways, I wasn't allowed to actually leave the house—at least not alone because of the threat. Of course, none of us could handle being locked up until the war ends. Dally, Johnny, and I walked to Buck's party one day. The house was practically rumbling with blasting music and yells. Every room was lit up and occasionally would darken from a shadow that crosses across it or stands in front. It's funny how people could act so carefree at a time like this or maybe they drank until every problem was forgotten.

We strolled right in. I cringed at the smell of sweat mixed with alcohol and smoke. Dally went straight to get drunk, leaving Johnny and I alone. I wasn't allowed to drink yet so I was there, watching everyone with Johnny. At some points, we played a game of pool or tried to escape some advances of some drunk, horny teens and adults. Of course, we were getting pretty bored and tired so we headed back to see what Dally was up to.

Dally was leaning against the wall over a nicely dressed girl. Her face was caked with makeup and her black hair was neatly done in a way that looked expensive to even do. Her dark blue eyes pierced through Dally, arms crossed and hips pushed to one side to indicate how annoyed she was. She looked familiar.

"Listen, if you don't leave me alone, I am going to stomp these heels into your eyes. So, won't you be kind and beat it? I'm only asking you once."

Dally whistled, chuckling. "You have a bite. That will help when we are alone together."

"Yeah, I can use my teeth to bite off your puny, little, fucking dick and shove it in your ass so that you can go fuck yourself."

I didn't hear all of the conversation because of the loud music, all I heard was the girl shouting threats and calling to some friends who were too drunk to comprehend her needs. She was absolutely screaming, sort of stomping her feet on the ground like a child. Dally said something again and got all in her face.

I remembered her now. She was one of those 'popular' girls in school that was rumored to have gone all the way with a number of guys. She was a total selfish, bitch from anybody's perspective. The only way she pretty much towers over everyone is because of her "daddy's money" and making everyone afraid of her. I once saw her kick a Soc where the sun doesn't shine because he didn't do what she asked. She must have been absent when the explosion happened… or she was a survivor.

The next thing I knew, she grabbed Dally's leather jacket tightly, he knuckles turning white and eyes becoming fiery—literally. Her fingertips that were by her side had small, dancing candle-like flames. Dally's coat was lit on fire. It only took a second for Dally to realize what was happening. He separated from the girl quickly and started to pat the flames away but they only got larger. The chatter turned to screams as people surrounded him, watching Dally attempt to beat the coat away. One guy tried to bring water over but there were too many people to get through. The girl had her eyes trained on him, a creepy smirk on her lips. Dally tried to remove the jacket but the girl flexed her hand and the fire grew even larger and hotter wherever his hand was. It was her doing.

I walked over to her, grabbing her arm, jolting her attention to me. Her arm was hot, burning my hand. The smell of my burning flesh filled my nostrils. I winced at the pain but didn't let go. "Stop this!" I ordered, eyes glowing gold. She looked at me with shock and ripped her arm from my grip. The fire on Dally died down, leaving only burns and smoke, but he looked as fine as anyone would be after going through what he did. The girl looked at my exposed hand and watched it heal like nothing had happened. We held eye contact before she spun around and disappeared in the crowd.

I glanced at Johnny who was by Dally's side before following her outside. As soon as I stepped one foot outside, a wave of heat hit me. I barely had enough time to jump out of the way as a beam of fire hit where I stood a second ago.

"You…You were in that explosion too, I reckon?" her voice asked as she stepped in front of me, both arms engulfed in flames. She didn't leave any time to answer before she grabbed me. Flames surrounded me. It was warm at first before it started to hurt. My clothes caught on fire and my skin boiled. Panicking, I through my arms forward, a blast of gold hitting her straight in the chest and knocking her onto the asphalt harshly.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as the fire died down from her lack of concentration. My wounds healed.

She shot another spray of fire at me, hitting a trashcan which exploded in flames. "What else am I supposed to do? Ever since I got these fucking abilities, I can no longer touch anyone without them burning. I have nothing now. I used to live _the life_ and now I am left with shambles. My parents are dead, my friends are dead and my money is gone. The only thing I got out of this is the power to take back what I want and I want you to get out of my way!" She sent a spiral of fire at me, encircling me. I choked for breath as oxygen started to leave the area and sank to my knees. The space around me slowly shrunk. My skin was broiling and turning a dark red.

I couldn't take it any longer—if I stayed any longer, I would be killed—and surrounded my body with my power and hit the fire. The fire glowed brighter. It hurt to move but I forced the fire upwards, above my head and gasped for breath, watching my body glow gold as it healed itself. I sucked in a sharp breath as I started to lose control of the fire and tried to dispel it. Accidently, I sent it forward towards the girl who squeaked in surprise and sent out a wall of fire that clashed into the fire I let go of. Fire flew everywhere, hitting Buck's place. The house quickly caught aflame and screams emitted from inside. People tried to escape but the girl shot fire to stop them from any escape.

I turned my back away from her and shot my powers at the flames, trying to slow down the spread. It worked but I had to get rid of the fire before the building collapses. I started to move my arms in a circular motion around my head, arms shaking from the force. The fire started to follow the streams of gold towards me, removing from the house. I changed my motion so that I was making a circle in front of me. The fire started to make a towering column. It was hot beyond belief but it was better than being surrounded.

"Aren't you going to help?" I asked. The girl only threw more fire to the building and started to walk away without a word. From the corner of my eyes, I saw her light a person on fire and taking his wallet before dispelling the flame, leaving a burnt-up corpse.

The fire and smoke has been removed from the house after a moment that felt like ages. I sent the flames into the air, scattering the molecules so that it was no more.

The door slammed open and everyone rushed outside to look at the house, surprised that it wasn't on fire anymore. Dally and Johnny got out, finally to examine everything. Their bodies were smudged with soot. I was ecstatic that no one was given major injuries and was glad that Dally was tuff, tuffer than anyone I knew.

I sat on the asphalt, breathing hard; feeling faint. I calmed myself before I could lose control of my particles. Everything was close—too close for comfort. I didn't want that to happen again, but I knew it would.

 **o-o-o**

I was walking with Johnny one day, coming back from watching a flick. I don't really like watching flicks with other people but it was that or not going at all.

"Is everything okay?" Johnny all of a sudden blurted out, breaking the silence.

"What?" I asked, confused on why he had brought it up. A part of me was nervous that he was catching on but I had hid everything quite well.

"You seem different and distant lately."

"There has been a lot on my plate lately."

"What is it?"

I shook my head. "I just… can't talk about it right now. I haven't figured it out yet."

We continued to walk until we saw a lump on the ground. We loped closer to it. Through the darkness of night, we could just make out who it was: Two-Bit. We couldn't see much detail on what happened. My first thought was that he passed out, drunk and didn't make it home so I lightly kicked him. "Hey, Two-Bit, wake up." I said but he didn't. I leaned down closer to him, trying to focus on him. A car drove by, headlights lighting us for a second but enough time to see cuts and bruises and shards of glass around Two-Bit.

"Two-Bit?" I started to panic. "What do we do?"

Johnny didn't know what to do either. "We have to get help."

"We can't just leave him here. You go get some help and I'll watch his body. I'll try to bring his body closer to the open."

Johnny looked unsure but still ran as fast as he could in the direction of my house. When everything was clear, I used my powers to pick him up and carry him down the road. Using my powers was starting to get way too easy.

I looked back at two-Bit worriedly. He was barely breathing before. I wanted to get home faster for him but I didn't want to risk my secret being exposed.

I was about a mile from my house when I saw the silhouette of a figure. It stopped its walk and I could feel their eyes on me before they started running towards me. I was sort of frozen and dropped Two-Bit, hoping that he didn't see me, though I knew he did. Whoops.

"Hey, is he okay?" I heard. The guy was about my age but taller. From what I could tell, he had dirty blond hair and light green eyes. If I stared hard enough, I could make out freckles. He raised his hands, and touched Two-Bit's chest. I stared at him tensely. A pulse of light came from his hand before all of the bruises and cuts started to heal. "There, he should be fine now." The guy had a strong Tennessee accent. I'm guessing he is some new guy in Tulsa who got caught up in this mess. He coughed, blood spatting out of his mouth into his hand.

The guy stood up and stared at me, a huge smile on his lips. He sort of had this crazed look to him, like he was on something. He probably was though. He looked sick and was about to throw up. He continued to smile though. "I've never met another person like me. Have you met others?"

"Yeah," I was still kind of awkward of everything.

"Do you want help carrying him? He should be awake soon. I'm guessing that you haven't told anyone of your powers yet so you wouldn't want any chance of exposing your secret."

Man, he talks a lot. But I agreed on his help and grabbed Two-Bit's arm as he grabbed his ankles. He was still heavy even though both of us were carrying him. The guy was an endless, hyper track but he helped keep my mind off of things.

We were only a street away from my house. My arms felt like jelly from carrying Two-Bit. I lowered him for a quick break and the guy lowered him too. I bet the gang would already be looking for us. I really should have stayed in my place until they came instead of move. But Two-Bit was fine and they will come back so I shouldn't be worried…but Two-Bit was supposed to be hurt.

I groaned, hitting my head with my hand. They are going to see that Two-Bit was fine and I had carried him all the way back home. Sometimes I just don't think through these problems.

"What's wrong?" the guy asked.

"How am I going to explain Two-Bit to them?" I asked. He stared at me, just realizing my conundrum.

"You'll figure something out I bet."

"You don't know that. Is there any way you could reverse what you did so that I can treat him regularly?"

He shook his head. "Sorry. I could only heal someone. I would love to reverse it sometimes and get rid of some of my illness."

"Why can't you heal yourself?"

"I can't. I could only heal others at the price of me. But it's worth it if it means helping someone, right?"

The door to one of my neighbor's houses opened and a little kid walked through the door, paying us no attention. "I got the garbage!" the kid shouted with a small bag of trash. He skipped to the trashcan with a big smile on his face, happy that he could help his family out with his innocent youth. Though, being a clumsy kid, he tripped and some trash fell out of the bag, rolling into the street. "Whoops!" He ran out into the street without looking. A car swerved around a corner, way faster than the speed limit. It zigzagged down the road, probably filled with intoxicated people. No one saw the kid. I could only watch in horror as the car rammed into the kid, the child hitting the front window before flying off, unconscious and head bashed in. The car sped off without anyone realizing it.

I stared at the kid's lifeless body. The guy that healed Two-Bit rushed forward, screaming. He kneeled down, cradling the child. His eyes were wide and so were mine. I couldn't save him. The kid had to be dead. I could have saved him. I had the chance. I saw the car coming. The guy was yelling and I could see that he was trying to heal the boy. I ran up behind him to see nothing was working.

"He's…He's dead…" I couldn't believe that death could just come out of nowhere, even if I had experienced it with my parents. It still seemed impossible.

The guy continued to try to heal him but with no avail. He started to wheeze and cough the more he used his power. I only stared, wanting to force him away from the dead child. He wasn't going to heal. No one could bring back the dead.

Flood was falling from his eyes and nose and mouth and his skin was a milky white. His fingers became boney, like his life was being sucked right out of him.

"Man, come on. He's dead… He's dead. You can't do anything." I pleaded, unable to look at the tragic scene.

"No! He doesn't deserve this fate. No one deserves horrible fate. I could save him!"

A blast, stronger than he ever let out before shot from his hand and into the child's chest.

"You're going to die if you keep this up!"

"So what?" he snapped.

I didn't know why he was still trying to save this boy. I began to question myself, watching him. Would I have tried to save the boy in his shoes? Would I even save people that I don't even know? What would happen if one of the gang was in this situation? Would I give my life to save them? What would happen if I told the gang of my powers? I had no doubt that they would keep the secret and accept me but at what cost? Would it be better off for them if I didn't tell them? Would it help protect them or be their death? What should I do?

I stared helplessly as the boy's eyes fluttered open, all wounds gone. The guy who helped save everyone fell, body limp and skin hugging his skeleton.

These powers are the reason why everyone was getting hurt and I couldn't do anything about it.

 **o-o-o**

 **These characters where created by** _ **DoitsuQueen**_ **. Thank you so much for submitting these characters. I hope I created them in how you envisioned them.**

 **Thank you to everyone who submitted characters. I will try to put them all in while continuing with the story-line.**

 **Replies:**

 _ **Cookieswafflesandfandic—**_ **Haha, yeah. I actually just realized I didn't have Ponyboy apologize but I don't know if he would in the book. Maybe. I mean, how many people would apologize if they were really excited?**

 _ **Dorianimeyaoilover**_ **—Name's aren't important for characters that are only there for a really short time, in my opinion. Yeah, they actually take some part of the future, I plan but their part would be so small and it would be a bit more realistic if there were more survivors, even if it was just a few.**

 _ **PercyboyCade**_ **\- Thank you for submitting a character. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

I was pacing back and forth, freaking out. My hands were tangled in my hair as I tried to figure out what to do. I had moved the kid back onto their property and moved the guy who might possibly be dead onto the sidewalk next to the unconscious Two-Bit. What do I do? What do I do?

I sucked in a shuddered breath. I need to check if he is still alive. I bent down and placed two fingers on the crook where the neck connects with the head and waited for a pulse. At first, I thought it was my pulse, since my heart was pounding against my chest, but I soon figured out it wasn't mine. His heartbeat was there, though it was weak. He was alive—barely. I didn't know how long he would live if he was on a timer and I couldn't help him. My powers couldn't heal him when I tried and didn't want to keep trying because I was afraid that I would mess up and crush him.

What if he dies if I don't get help? I couldn't let him die—especially if I had the chance to help him. But, who could help? I didn't know of another person with powers that was willing to help me or could in that matter. I can't call up the gang and couldn't leave Two-Bit to go to another person's house. The best option was to call for an ambulance, but even that would be bad.

My freak-out was interrupted by the door to the kid's house opening. Their parents walked out, spotting their unconscious child instantly. His mother screamed and rushed to his side, begging for him to wake up. The father looked shocked and scanned around, eyes landing on me. He looked furious and went back inside to grab a handgun. My blood grew cold at the sight of it pointing at me.

The father screamed a bunch of curses and insults and threats at me, thinking that I was the one who hurt his son as well as the other two other people around me. I barely had enough time to react when he shot the first bullet—which might as well have been a warning bullet—to pull up a shield with a counterclockwise motion of my arms. The bullet imbedded itself into my glowing wall about a foot away from me; the wall cracked around where it hit. His eyes, as well as the mother's grew wide with shock. When they were still staring at me with wide eyes, I spun around on my heels and used my powers to pick up Two-Bit—because, hey, I was already caught with my powers—and run away, going farther away from my house.

Crap. I shouldn't have done that. Today was a train wreck. Once I was far enough and I knew they weren't chasing me, I stopped and lowered him on the ground. Gasping for breath, I sat down next to him and waited until he woke up.

Two-Bit stared up at the sky that was absent of any stars with confusion before he shot up to look around. He stared at me. "Pony?" he asked.

"Yeah?" I answered, unsure of how I was going to play the next move.

"What happened?"

"I should be asking you that. What happened?"

Two-Bit cocked his head to a side, trying to work out what happened. After a while, he shook his head. "I don't remember."

"Were you drinking?"

"Possibly," he said as tasted his lips. "Yes." I doubt he drank much but I might as well use the opportunity.

"Johnny and I found you passed out. Johnny went to get help and I started to drag your body so that they would find you faster."

"You dragged my body? Jesus, Ponyboy, we're almost at your place."

"Adrenaline, man. I guess I ran out of the extra fuel. You're heavier than a pregnant cow **.** "

The bright light of headlights blinded us. "There you guys are," Darry said, climbing out of his truck with the others who were stuck in the truck.

Johnny looked over Two-Bit, shock in his eyes. "Where are your wounds?"

Two-Bit examined his arms. "What wounds?"

"You were covered head-to-toes in bruises and cuts."

"I don't see any on me."

"But you had them, Pony and I saw them."

"I didn't see any wounds," I lied, raising my hands up in defense, mentally apologizing to Johnny. "I just saw Two-Bit passed out. It was dark, maybe you were just seeing things."

Johnny frowned, not pleased but he slowly nodded. I bet they were going to comment on the location we were at but was cut off by the wailing alarms of police cars and ambulances heading towards my house. This was a normal thing to see and all, but not towards our house. We all exchanged looks before jumping in the car and booking it to my house. I didn't want to go. I knew why this was happening. I prayed that they didn't know it was me.

When we got there, I saw the backdoor of the ambulance close. I could only assume that the person inside was the guy that healed Two-Bit and the kid. Sorry, man. You have to deal with the hospital by yourself. Hopefully they can save you. The ambulance sped off towards the hospital.

The family of that kid, who was now awake, were being questioned by the fuzz. The gang and I were close enough to hear what they were saying.

"What happened?" the policeman asked.

"My kid wanted to take out the trash and he went outside to do so, but he took a long time, way longer than he should have. My wife and I decided to go and check on him and when we opened the door, we saw him unconscious, as well as a couple more people, and a male standing over them."

"Do you know who the man was?"

He shook his head. "It was too dark to see his face, couldn't be too old though."

"What happened to him?"

"I shot a warning shot at him, but then something happened."

"What happened?"

"I think he didn't know I was going to miss because the next thing I knew was a glowing-gold, transparent wall in front of him and the bullet got stuck inside the wall."

"It's true. I saw the wall too. I don't know what it was or what he was. The guy ran away and took one of the bodies with him with that whole glowing thing," the mother added.

"If it was glowing, could you see what he looked like?" the officer asked.

"He was covering his face. All I saw was glowing-gold eyes."

"Do you have anything else to report?"

The parents shook their heads. The officer looked at the kid and asked the same questions but the kid couldn't answer anything. The policemen soon left the scene and we headed back inside the house.

"That was weird," Steve commented.

I didn't hear much more of the conversation afterwards. I went straight to my room and flopped myself on the bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I passed out.

 **o-o-o**

 _It was happening again and again on a never-ending cycle. I was running from something, I don't know what. My legs were practically hitting my chest as I tried to not step on any bodies. I could see the entrance and the light was reviving, but when I stepped through, I found myself in the same, long stretch of a hallway, floors covered in people, blood, and rubble._

 _I continued to run and run, going through the entrance about a billion times but ended in the same spot again and again. No matter how I tried to leave, I would start in the same spot._

 _I must have been running for hours and opened every door that was along the hallway, when the floor pulled out from under me and I plummeted down into an abyss._

 **o-o-o**

I didn't know where I was. My vision was impaired. I only saw splotches of my surroundings, but not enough to identify my location. Everything was all dark and I couldn't feel my body or move. I couldn't breathe. I wanted to grasp for air but I didn't know where my mouth was, I didn't know where anything was.

I knew what was happening. It has never been this bad. Every night, I dream of the explosion, and every night, I wake up like this. Each night became worse.

The few splotches of vision that I had started to disappear and I felt fear. I didn't have much oxygen left.

I tried to calm myself down so that I could focus on forming my body again which would have been a lot easier if most of my concentration was on the idea of me suffocating. I had to focus on different parts of my body and slowly formed them so that I could breathe again. When my body was solid again, I collapsed on the floor, now noticing that I was in my bedroom.

Everyone was still asleep. I was happy for that, but, in the same time, I wanted someone to be there for me.

I walked outside my room, not wanting to fall back to sleep again. I was quiet since it was around three in the morning and Johnny was crashed on the couch. I stepped outside to get fresh air and sat on the porch, waiting for the sun to rise.

Eventually, a paperboy walked down the street and throw newspapers on the ground. When he disappeared down the street, I used my powers to bring the newspaper into my hands. I skimmed the words. Most of it was about the whole war with Russia but another was about the plan of pulling all of our troops from Vietnam because Russia was a priority.

I was done reading the front page when there was the beating sound of a helicopter flying overhead. I glanced up and saw a black helicopter with large white letters saying 'FBI'. What are they doing here?

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 ** _DoitsuQueen_** **: Phew. I'm glad you liked how I portrayed them. I was worried that it wasn't good. Yay.**

 ** _Kaosmagic_** **: Thanks. Although, there won't be a character that was affected by the explosion that would be friends with Ponyboy, there would be someone that explains things, or theorize, to him and the gang.**

 ** _Cookieswafflesandfanfic_** **: I feel like you're going to be that person who lights fireworks in the forest xD haha. Yeah, lighting things on fire is a lot of fun. *evil cackles***

 ** _Dorianimeyaoilover_** **: I'm actually not going to kill any OCs that were made by other people. It just doesn't feel right doing that. Now, my OCs on the other hand: Death to them all.**


	6. Chapter 6

I was once again in the DX Station. The "Jumping-Man", as the news calls him, was finally apprehended after days search. He was proven to be too dangerous for an ordinary prison and was taken to a secluded slammer for confinement. Since the threat was removed, Darry let me return to the gas station, but it was still incredibly boring. It was just like the last time that I was here. Steve was in the garage with a car and Soda was being flirted to outside. I wondered why I continued to come here if I knew that I would only be sitting.

The clock ticked on. I had retreated to browsing what was in the small shop. I stopped at the magazine section and leafed through the stack, ears glowing red at what some of them were. I made sure not to look inside those.

The doorbell jingled and I half-glanced at who had entered but nobody was there. Shrugging it off as the wind, I went back to the magazines. There wasn't anything all that interesting so I began to alphabetize them, because why not? It was a good time waster. I was just about finished with all of the magazines that begun with the letter 'A' when there was a loud crinkle behind me. I spun around and saw nothing again. That is, until I saw a candy bar lift in the air, move, and then disappear. I rubbed my eyes to make sure that I wasn't dreaming but again saw another candy bar move and disappear.

"Hello?" I asked, warily moving closer. Nobody answered. There was a long pause like there was some sort of standoff. I squinted my eyes and scrutinized the area where the candy bars vanished. It was hardly visible, but if I looked hard enough, I could make out the outlines of a figure and it looked like they were staring at me. Another candy bar was snatched and there was a sound of pounding footsteps that was fading away from me. "Hey! Get back!" I shouted and tried to follow them.

The door opened again and practically slammed shut. I pushed open the door a second later and looked around. There was no sight of him. How was I supposed to chase down an invisible person?

"Pony? You alright?" Soda asked, eyes filled with concern. The girls that were outside were all looking at me with shock. I continued to look around. He had to be close by.

"Yeah. I'm going to run home now," I tried to say quickly, inching away from my brother.

"Sure, but—"

"Okay, bye!" I ran off in the direction of my house since I didn't know where to start looking. For all I knew, the invisible person could still be at the DX. I was about to pivot and turn back when a force stronger than a wrecking ball crashed into me and flung me in the air. I cried out as my bones cracked from pressure.

Someone screamed and then l landed gently on the floor, heaving. My arms covered my chest even though it felt like I was being stabbed.

"Are you okay?" a feminine voice asked. I looked up and saw an older girl with short, curly, blonde hair.

"One moment," I croaked out, waiting for my bones to mend back together. "Where did you come from?"

"I was taking a light jog from the shoe store," she answered as my bones completely healed. I got on my feet.

"Light jog? I couldn't even see you coming at me. Your shoes are on fire!"

She looked down in surprise and started to jump around, taking off of her tennis shoes and throwing them as far away as she could. "I just got those shoes!" She took another pair of tennis shoes and slipped them on. "I have to steal another pair again."

"Steal?"

"If you ran faster than a plane could fly, your shoes would be destroyed and, frankly, I can't keep buying shoes."

"You are sure easy to tell me about your powers. Are you prone to tell everyone about them?"

"Of course not! I can't tell everyone. They will gossip about me and I can't have that. I'm the one who's supposed to gossip about them. Besides, you have powers too. I broke your bones when I ran into you and you healed yourself a lot faster than normal people, though you healed slowly."

"Slow?"

"Everything is slow to me. A bird flying overhead is just inching around. Anyways, what were you doing before this? Why were you running?" She talked fast, like she was high on sugar, but I felt like it was her powers that made her like that.

"I was searching for someone." I nearly smacked myself in the head. "I was searching for someone! They're probably gone right now!"

"Who were you searching for?"

"I don't know. He was invisible."

"Like powers invisible or you're actually crazy?"

"Powers."

"Ooh! Let's go find him! I have time. I have a lot of time lately."

"How do you suppose to find an invisible person?"

"By searching every inch of Tulsa until I knock into something that I can't see. Let's go! Come on! Turn around for a moment."

I looked at her with confusion but turned around. I felt her cold hands touch the back of my neck and head and another on my back. I was going to turn back around when everything around me turned into a blur. My stomach did hundreds of flips and it became harder to breathe as my atoms began to separate.

Then, it all stopped. I was floating around before my body formed again. The girl was gone and I was in a completely different spot than I was before.

"Hey!" the girl yelled, popping next to me in a blink of an eyes. I jumped, heart leaping from my mouth. "Woops, did I scare you? Sorry."

For some reason, my faster reflexes couldn't detect her. Maybe she moved faster than what my brain could process. "It's fine."

"So, what happened? I tried to move you around the city with me but then you went through me."

I couldn't really answer her. I don't know what happens to me. I don't even know what causes my molecules to do so. The only way I could answer he was with a shrug.

"Shall we go again?" she asked.

"No, I don't want to take the risk of that happening again."

"Okay, I'll go look then. Be back in like five seconds." It was literally only five seconds when she appeared out of nowhere, making me jump again. She looked older somehow. At first, I thought she was tired from sprinting around Tulsa. He face was thinner and, if I looked close enough, I could see deeper lines and her hair receded a bit but not a lot. "I couldn't find him. I checked every corner in Tulsa."

I wasn't that disappointed. The invisible person didn't want to be found and I had to respect that. I wouldn't even know what to say to him if I did find him. 'Hey, I was the guy chasing you. I don't know why. I have powers too though I can't give you any answers. Okay, bye?' That conversation didn't sound at all interesting. It was just a waste of time. "It doesn't even matter anymore. Sorry for wasting your time."

"No, you didn't waste any time. That was a fun run." She looked down at her smoking shoes, nose wrinkling up in disgust. "I just got these shoes!" and with that she ran away in a flash.

I looked around the area I was in. I didn't recognize it at all. For all I knew, I was in the opposite side of the city from where I lived. I didn't know where I was supposed to head to get back on the main street to see where I was and I couldn't fly with the chance of a lot of people seeing me. With a loud sigh, I walked down the alleyway, hoping that I wasn't too far from home. I guess, I could see if I could take a bus.

While I was walking, I fished in my pocket for some coins that Soda gave me to watch a flick (though I rarely ever pay to get in). I had fifty cents in my pocket. It takes a quarter to ride the bus. I breathed out in relief.

Then, a quarter lifted from my hand and disappeared. The other one lifted and I instantly clutched my hand shut, catching a hand within my own. The hand ripped out from mine and I could hear footsteps backing away from me. I stuffed the quarter back in my pocket and squinted my eyes at the area where the person had gone. "I know you're there."

The person didn't answer. I moved my fingers to activate my powers and threw a gold ball in the area but it only hit an empty box. How was I supposed to catch him?

My eyes scanned all around me for an outline of someone but then next thing I knew was feeling a crushing blow on my jaw and my body being jerked back and onto the hot asphalt. I cradled my jaw and sent another blast in the direction where I was hit but my blast only hit a wall. A shoe imprinted on my face and I was once again thrown down, head spinning. I groaned in pain as I threw another blast but came out with nothing.

More kicked impaled my body and I instinctively curled up into a ball to protect myself, eyes watering from fear and pain. I couldn't cry out for help. Nobody can help me. I can't even save myself with my powers. One by one my bones began to break and I started to scream but the person, who I assumed was a male, kicked me in the neck and I chocked, coughing out blood. My vision was practically gone when he kicked me again, but the kick didn't hit me. The kick went through me.

My body started to scatter again, making it even harder to collect myself. I heard a surprised gasp and took this time to gather myself and threw out my bruised arm to send a blast out to him, successfully catching him.

He yelped in surprise and I lifted him from the ground. He shimmered before his body became visible. He was indeed a boy, probably around the same age as me, if not a year older. He had brown hair and matching eyes. His legs were kicking around as he tried to struggle out of my hold. I raised him higher in the air to make him feel like it was hopeless to escape, feeling my wounds begin to heal.

"Let me down!" he ordered, voice a bit quieter than the average person.

"Not until I know you won't do anything," I replied.

"I won't!" I looked at him skeptically. I felt like he was going to run off again. I warily lowered him to the floor but still not letting go of my hold for precautionary measures. As soon as his shoes touched, he disappeared but I could make out his outlines.

"Then what are you doing now?"

"I can't help it. I just camouflage into anything I touch."

I picked him up a bit so that I could see him. It was unsettling to talk to air. The boy looked at me with annoyance. "Why are you stealing stuff?"

"Like you haven't stolen anything," he laughed. He was right. Nothing legal always pursues when I'm hanging out with Dally or Two-Bit. At least, with Two-Bit, we don't steal anything too big, usually just some useless trinkets or a bottle of coke. When I'm with Dally though, something like a box of beer or a handful of boxes of cigarettes are stolen.

This might have been a bad idea, but after a moment thought, I let him down—this time completely free— and watched him camouflage into his surroundings.

My legs flipped out from under me as he swiped his legs at my ankles. I fell back, just catching myself before I hit my head. His footsteps pounded away from me. For a split second, I thought about letting him go and never see him again, literally. Then I remembered that he still had my money. Guess I won't be taking the bus today.

I directed my hands towards the ground, eyes changing to gold as I blasted the ground, lifting me up into a decent height—high enough to see better and low enough to not have any risks of being seen. As soon as I was high enough, I blasted myself with my own power and used my hands to fly quickly through the alleyway.

Wind pushed past my face, combing through my hair and tickling my ears. I swerved deeper in the alley, narrowly missing every corner and sometimes almost crashing into things. I prayed that the alley would just end and he would be trapped. I followed closely behind, not really paying much attention where I was going. My eyes were practically glued to the ground, looking for any signs of movement, like a shift in asphalt rocks, or listened to the sounds of his heavy breathing and footsteps. At one point, he stepped on glass from a shattered fallen soldier and his screams of pain alerted my attention. I saw his blood that dripped from midair and onto the ground and started to fly towards him.

His screams stopped and patches of blood started to run away from me. I was so close. I pushed myself farther, then the patches stopped and the door to an old shop open and close. In horror, I looked up to see the wall coming to meet me at an alarming speed. I couldn't reach my hand out to stop myself. It took both of my hands to even carry me. I was going to crash and it was going to hurt like a bitch.

A memory of the speedster flashed in my mind of going through her body and a thought went through my mind. What if I went through the wall? To do that, I would have to separate my molecules in a controlled way and I didn't want to do that period. Every single time my molecules separate, I almost die. But it was worth a shot, right? Where do I even start?

I closed my eyes from the wall that was so close to me, concentrating on my body to just expand like a cloud. Nothing happened. I still felt solid. That was the only thought I had about getting through. I was going to be a pancake. I started to freak out about them finding my body, expanded on the wall like someone had painted an explosion but with gore; tuffs of my hair and shards of my bones sticking out of my flesh and brains and organs and patches of skin still stuck by what was like wet glue. They were going to call me the human pancake in the news and in the future. Then I thought about my brothers; how I was going to leave them behind. It was amazing how much could go through your head when death was about to occur.

When I opened my eyes to see if I was at a nose distance from the wall or not, I couldn't see anything. My body had reached the cloud form that I was trying to achieve at the start. I was so focused on my worries that I didn't notice the strange feeling or the loss of breath. Then, everything felt absolutely weirder than it was a split second ago. It belt light there was tight holds on thousands of parts of my body and I was just pulling through them with only the help from the sweat of my body. I assumed that I hit the wall.

My dark vision started to become rimmed with red when that feeling disappeared. Guessing that I fazed through the wall, I tried to control the molecules on my body until I was whole again.

I was thrown forward from the wall, crashing into the boy that I was chasing. He cried out as we both tumbled down, knocking over the shelves that held knick-knacks. Most of them breaking. I tangled myself with his body, trying to pin him down with my pure strength. I couldn't see him, not even an outline because it was a pretty dark room. That was until the light turned on and a door flung open. An old man stood at the door with a broom in his hands and sharp eyes that easily rivaled Dally's. He stared at me, looking at me and to the floor where it looked like I was wrestling pure air. My ears heated up in embarrassment and I slackened the hold on the chameleon boy, enough for him to break free.

"Hey!" I shouted as he pushed past the older man, surprising him as he tumbled backwards. I shot up from the ground to follow him.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I repeated in my head. I fucked up. The boy was gone and the man had saw my face. He felt the boy push him. He knows that there are freaks out there. He knows that I am one of them. I had royally messed up all because of a quarter.

 **o-o-o**

 **Characters created by _cookieswafflesandfanfic_. Thank you so much for lending me some of your OCs.**

 **Replies:**

 **Cookieswafflesandfanfic: *dramatic gasp* even more people that know.**

 **Dorianimeyaoilover: As he doesn't keep low xD**


	7. Chapter 7

Dark bags were evident under my eyes. I haven't had more than a blink of sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I went through the same nightmares. I had hoped that I would forget about the explosion over time, but with each passing second, I am reminded that I should have been dead along with everybody else. At least then I wouldn't have to feel like death and I wouldn't be bombarded with keeping this secret. I'm starting to think that I should just tell the gang about my powers. They would keep it a secret. But I still don't completely understand it. I hardly know anything about it. There were still a billion questions in my brain about it that I might never know. Why, out of everyone, was I given this power? Why am I still alive? Is there a way to get rid of it? I didn't want to get rid of my powers. My powers are now a part of my everyday life. I use them way more than I would like to admit. But if there was a way, I would like to know.

When morning came and light peered through the window shades, I took it as a clear that I could leave my room without anybody on my case. Soda was still snoring into his pillow and I couldn't help but feel jealous of him.

I shot out my hand to shoot a ball of gold to grab my clothes from the closet and dresser and place them in my hands so that I could walk out without any problem. I opened the door with my powers and walked into the bathroom to finish up my morning routine before heading to the kitchen. I levitated a frying pan over the oven, turning it on with a small rotation of my fingers and opened the cooler with my other hand. My fingers flexed and I did a small throwing motion to fling a couple of eggs over the frying pan. I closed my hand to completely crush the egg and let my powers filter the shells from the egg, letting the eggs goop down.

I left the kitchen, not having to stay near the stove to Two-Bit who decided to spend the night. Two-Bit was sprawled over the couch. One of his arms planked out from the couch and a leg was on the backrest. His neck was bent in an uncomfortable way that would surely bother him in the morning. He looked vulnerable while he slept.

A small smirk played on my lips as I flipped the eggs from the living room. With another movement with my hand, the coffee table lifted from the floor and was gently placed so that it was standing over Two-Bit's head. I strolled back into the kitchen, turning off the stove and grabbed a slice of chocolate cake as well as scissors and a roll of duct tape. Since it was easier to cut the tape without actually touching it, I used my powers to cut a couple of strips and placed them, sticky-side-up, on the approximate area where Two-Bit would step when he wakes up. Finally, I placed the cake on the floor nearby and used my powers to get a pan from the cabinet as well as a stirring stick.

As soon as my hands wrapped around the objects, Soda walked in the living room, immediately seeing the position I was in. We stared at each other before Soda asked, "What are you doing?"

"I…uh… made breakfast for everyone," I answered. "Two-Bit's is just on the floor."

"And what's with the table over his head?"

I didn't bother answering him verbally this time. Instead I hit the bottom of the pan with the stick. The vibrating clank sounded louder in the quiet atmosphere. Two-Bit's eyes shot open and his head slammed into the coffee table. He groaned in pain as he knocked the table off, grabbing his forehead. "What the hell?" he said quite loudly and swung both of his legs down, feet sticking to the duct tape. His eyes once again shot open and he stood up. "What the hell!" He tried to peel off the tape, standing on one foot, and I casually used my power to gently push him forward. He hopped around uncontrollably, until the tape slipped on the carpet and his head fell straight in the cake on the ground.

I burst out laughing, stomach clenching into a tight knot, growing tighter when Two-Bit looked up with cake smeared on his face. "Hey, Two-Bit, you got a little something on your face." Soda laughed with me as Two-Bit got up, chuckling away the embarrassment and licked his lips.

Darry came out into the living room, raising a grumpy eyebrow. "What was that crash?" he asked. He looked at me with calculating, tired eyes before he looked at my hands then at the chocolate and tape covered Two-Bit sprawled across the floor.

"You're going to clean your mess," he sighed before going into the kitchen.

After cleaning the small mess, I decided to take a walk. I knew that Darry wouldn't let me go on a walk by myself during the whole Cold War fiasco without a good reason. So, I told him that I was going to the library to read and probably study since I wasn't in school anymore. Darry wanted Johnny or someone to come with me but I made the argument that everyone would be bored and wreck the library. After much time was wasted pleading him, Darry let me go (because me education was more important than my safety apparently).

It wasn't too long of a walk to the library. The sky was void of any clouds and the ground looked like it was moving from the heat. It seemed like it's been forever since it last rained or snowed here. The green lawns on the Socs' and middleclass' sides were turning gold since we were now in a drought.

I walked to where all of the middle class houses were, wishing to be inside. Nobody was outside in this heat. My eyes wandered around to look at everything when I noticed something sticking out from the gold lawns and dead plants: life. There was one house where the lawn was greener than I have ever seen a green lawn and small flowers rimmed the grass in pastoral colors. Walking closer, I noticed a girl crouching down in front of a flower. She had curly brown hair and darker brown eyes with fair skin.

Her attention snapped to me as soon as I came into view and I saw her hand lower. "Hello!" she chirped standing up. "Your name… Ponyboy, right?"

My jaw slightly dropped. Baffled, I answered, "Uh… yeah, how did you know?"

"I've seen you around school before, you know."

I gave her a look, trying to remember if I have seen her before but came out blank. "I don't…"

"…Know me? No one really does. I'm there though, standing in the background. I like it that way. I like to observe people." She concentrated on me even harder. "Let's see... You're on the track team, if I remember right and you had great grades in school. You hardly stay in school during lunch. Flaws? Well, I haven't noticed anything. But… you're strange. Like, really different. Why? It makes you an outsider. I find it absolutely ridiculous that someone would want to stand out that much. It bothers me."

Wow. I didn't know what to say. I decided to change the topic. "So, judging by the greenery, you can grow plants for a power?"

"No, I have something different. Watch!" He eyes glowed as she rose her hands to the sky. The once cloudless sky was completely covered in gray clouds. The wind picked up and the sky rumbled. A drop hit my skin, refreshing it from the heat before many more dropped around it until we were both standing in the pouring rain. Except, she wasn't getting wet. The rain was going around her like she had a protective shield. I put up my hands to cast my very own shield against the rain. "So, were you going somewhere?"

"I was just taking a walk. There isn't much to do now that I don't have to go to school...Well, yet, at least."

"I'm not going to stop you on your walk," she made a shooing motion with her hand.

"Aren't you going to stop the rain?"

She laughed, shaking her head. "No. Run, boy, run. Go, go!" She did quick swiping motions with her hand and small bolts of lightning came rushing down near me, making my hairs stand up on edge and the smell of rain on asphalt changed to a static smell. The wind picked up, swirling around me in a twister. The rain practically pelted the ground and the sky rumbled again.

I thought she was joking but she wasn't. She chuckled and sent a blast of lightning towards me. It hit my shield, shattering it and sending my body into a temporary, painful paralysis. When I recovered, I gave her one last look before actually running from her. The wind pushed me forward before it all suddenly stopped and I turned around again to see that she changed the weather back to being sunny.

Frowning, I turned back around to continue my pursuit of the library. By the time the library was in sight, my attention was turned elsewhere again to a small diner. Music from the jukebox was blasting through the open windows that also let some fumes out. My stomach rumbled and I rubbed my belly. I should probably get something to eat before I go to the library. Now that I think about it, I didn't eat the egg I made. I fished in my pocket to see how much money I had, thanking myself for remembering to refresh my pockets before leaving the house.

I entered the diner, seeing all the people eating similar foods. I walked up to the front counter, feet subconsciously matching with the rhythm of the song. As I was walking there, I bumped into someone. His sunglasses that he was wearing fell off, clattering to the floor.

"Oh, sorry, man," I muttered and grabbed the sunglasses from the floor. My eyes met with his and I froze light, gray-blue eyes. It felt like my world closed around me and all power that I had in my body drained away. I couldn't tear my eyes away until he put back on his shades. As soon as he did that, I felt like passing out. All the pressure on my mind was gone.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"Are you okay?" someone asked to another in the diner. The person that the question was sent to was leaning against the table, head in his hands as he rubbed his temples.

"Yeah, just got dizzy there," the person answered.

The curly, brown haired teen in front of me frowned for a second, looking at the teen that was leaning over the table and started to walk over but before he could reach the table, he sat in the empty booth next to it and just stared, taking off his sunglasses.

I was still flabbergasted about what had happened, but moved to the counter and sat on the barstool. My eyes were still glued to the teen that I bumped into. His eyes were intensely staring at the kids from before. The same one that got dizzy looked at the boy again and from where I sat, I saw his eyes turn gray and his body stiffen.

A menu was handed to me and I gave the waitress an awkward smile. I picked it up but kept my eyes on the boy. The one who was standing turned around like he was being controlled like a puppet and started to clutch his chest around the area where his heart would have been and started making gasping sound. All attention from the diner turned to him but nobody moved until he fell on the floor. People started scream left and to the right of me and rushing towards the fallen man and some girls began to cry.

My eyes rushed to the teen wearing shades who was smiling widely, his shoulders moving up and down like he was laughing. He slipped the shades back on and stood up from the table. He turned towards me and we both stared at each other before he left the diner with one more glance at the teen on the ground.

The fallen man sat up like nothing had happened and looked around at everyone who was crowding him with confusion. "What happened?" he asked.

"You collapsed. I think you were having a heart attack. The ambulance is on its way."

"I'm fine…"

"So you were just playing a prank on us?" one of his friends exploded, hands clenched into tight balls.

"What—"

"What else could that have been if you weren't playing a prank? Man, people thought you were actually going to die! That's sick, man."

I didn't stick around any longer and slipped from the chair and walked outside, quickly catching up with the retreating teenager. "Hey, wait up!" I called out.

He spun around. "Hey."

"Why'd you leave the diner?" I asked, trying to make a casual conversation. "I didn't see you get any food."

"Speak for yourself. I just wasn't in the right mood anymore, you know?"

"Was it the guy having the heart attack?"

"No. Turns out that it was just a prank."

"Well, how do you know it was just a prank if you weren't there until the end?"

"I could just tell." He was lying.

"Come on, you can tell me."

"Tell you? Tell you what exactly? I shouldn't be even talking to you."

"What did you do to that guy?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do? You're just like me, right?"

He froze. "Just like you?"

"You were in the explosion."

"Even if I was in the explosion, why does it matter? That doesn't make us pals or the same. It doesn't mean that I can just trust you enough to tell you my secrets."

He was about to walk away but I turned his around and held him in place. I could feel his eyes staring directly into my golden eyes from behind the shades. "What do you have to be afraid of to tell me something I know you have?"

"Why do you just trust everyone? I don't know if you've noticed, but a whole lot of us, whatever we are now, are horrible people. We can't just trust people."

"Then trust me."

He stared at me and I lowered him. After a while he nodded. "Fine, I'll trust you enough to tell you what I can do, but nothing more."

"Fair enough."

"Every living thing that looks into my eyes can be controlled by me. That's what happened with you. You looked into my eyes and I had the chance to control you for a while."

"Why didn't you?"

"I don't like my powers. I don't want to really use my powers at all."

"You used them today."

"I was bored and they were people I knew from when I went to their school. I only every use my powers if I had to and for simple pranks like that. But enough of that. I don't want any more interrogation. Goodbye." I still had another question but before I could stop him again, he took off his shades and stared into my eyes. The feeling of being closed off into a dark void consumed me. When everything went back to normal, I was sitting in the library at a table near a window. The building rumbled and I looked outside to see the sky brewing a big storm and a couple of helicopters caught up in the mess. I was so engrossed by the storm that I didn't notice the eyes that were on me.

 **o-o-o**

 **The character that could control the weather was created by** _ **PercyboyCade**_ _ **.**_

 **The character that can control people was created by** _ **switchpersonalities.**_

 **Thank you for submitting characters. :D**

 **Replies:**

 _ **Kaosmagic**_ **: That's a great idea, maybe I'll put a character like that in future chapters. Maybe. I'll try not to forget it. Thanks for the idea :)**

 _ **Cookieswafflesandfanfic**_ **: Haha. You must have freaked out a lot? Did she throw holy water at you?**


	8. Chapter 8

It was probably five in the morning when there was a knock on the door that jolted everyone awake. Darry was the first one to the door, swinging it open to see who would knock so early in the morning. Behind the door were two tall men dressed in suits. They had stolid expressions like they didn't want to be here and they wanted to just get done with the day. Soda and I peeked around the corner, watching everything play out. The two men flashed out their badges, the letters "FBI" standing out on the white card.

"My name is Agent Boone, and this is my partner, Agent Carl," one of the men introduced, tucking away his badge.

Darry swallowed the lump in his throat, waking up completely. He opened the door for the two to enter the house which they graciously did. "What could I do for you?" he asked.

"We just want to talk about the explosion that blew up Will Rogers High School. Specifically the survivor. May we speak to him?"

Darry turned to me as well as the two agents. I felt all the color drain from my face. I was slightly shaking, hands probably as slippery as butter. I walked over, reaching out to shake their hands but they only stared at my hand before motioning me to sit. I sat down and my brothers sat on both sides of me.

"So why do you need to talk about the explosion? That happened a while ago. Shouldn't all that matter is he's alive?" Darry asked.

"That information is classified. Have any of you seen any other survivors from the explosion?"

"Other survivors? There are more?" Soda asked.

"Yes. Not many. Have strange things happened after that?"

"What do you mean by strange?" Darry asked.

"I think Ponyboy knows what we are talking about."

My brain screamed at me to escape but my body was frozen in place. I was as pale as a ghost. My brothers were confused, looking at me again and it felt like my mind was caving in. "I don't know what you're talking about," I tried to lie but no one believed me. It didn't take my stuttering words or pale face to tell.

"I think you do. You see, we had come to a conclusion that everyone that survived the explosion is a danger to society."

"Danger to society? That's ridiculous. How could he be a danger to society?"

"I would like to ask you and your brother to leave the room. We would like to speak with Ponyboy alone, please." The agent looked at his partner who stood up and lead Darry and Soda away.

"We've been watching you. We've seen what you could do and know the damage you could do. That is why you will come with us."

"What?" I breathed out, eyes wide and heart stopping. "You can't do that…"

"We can. If it will protect society then we can remove you from your premises."

"You can't do that!" I started to raise my voice so that Darry and Soda will be able to hear and hopefully come to the rescue. "I can't leave my brothers! I don't want to leave! I'm not a danger to society!"

"There are many cases where you have used your newfound abilities to cause destruction. I would advise you to sit down or we will have to take you by force."

I was too riled up to just stop. I could hear Darry and Soda trying to get past the agent and demanding answers. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

The agent looked down at my hands which were glowing and some of the molecules were moving around. His hands reached to his bag and took out a syringe with clear liquid and went to stab it into my arm. I got out of the way, bringing up my hand and pushed the agent to the wall, creating a small crater. He gasped in pain as the syringe flew from his hands and onto the carpet.

"Those gold eyes of yours… they look like eyes of a monster," he managed to get out. My powers wavered for a moment.

"Boone!" his partner yelled, rushing to the living room with a gun, instinctively taking shots at me. I let go of the agent on the wall and made a circular motion to create a shield. The bullets hit the shield, barely cracking it. I pulled the gun away from the man and pushed him back and held him in the air.

"Pony…" Soda whispered and it was then I noticed my two brothers who had watched the whole display. I dropped the agent, eyes turning back to its gray-green color.

I was going to try to explain to them and beg them to accept me and forgive me continuous lie but Agent Boone was behind me, pressing the needle into the crook of my neck. My vision started to grow dizzy before everything went black.

 **o-o-o**

Light stung my eyes as they opened. It took a minute to adjust and another to process everything. I was in a small, square room that could just barely fit me if I was lying down. The walls were painted white, illuminated the room even more with the fluorescent lights. The gray floors were cold against the touch. One wall of the empty room was a glass, probably bullet proof.

I tried to move to check out what was on the other side of the glass but couldn't—at least not easily. I was put into a straitjacket.

That was okay though. I could easily get out of here. That's what I thought. When I tried to use my powers, I couldn't. I didn't have the ability to move my hands. I tried to get out by separating my molecules, but once again couldn't.

"No, no, no," I repeated, and flung my rolled up body at the glass, not expecting to break it but I wanted to get out no matter what. I slammed my body against it over and over and gave up not too long after, sliding against the glass, eyes watering up. It was hopeless. I was stuck here and I didn't know what was going to happen to me or where I was.

From where I sat, I could see other cells with people in it but all of them were mostly out of sight.

"Hey, you're awake?" someone asked, voice recognizable but I couldn't place it. They were in the cell next to mine.

My head perked up. "Yeah! Do you know where we are?"

"No. All I know is that it's some research confinement. They want to know what makes us tick."

"What will happen to us?"

There was a pause. "I don't know."

We both fell into silence and I retreated back to the back wall. The silence was deadly. The continuous buzz of the atmosphere was enough to go mad. The _clip-clop_ of footsteps cut the silence into two, sounding louder than it actually was. A man stood in front of the glass, opening the door. He walked up to me and hoisted me to my feet and started to drag me out of the room.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, struggling and not showing how scared I was of what's to come. The man ignored me and only quickened his pace. As I passed through all of the cells, I made eye contact with everyone. I recognized a great number of them: the weather girl, the jumping man, the healing guy. I bet the others that I met were on the opposite side of where I was heading.

I was lead through a long hallway, every sound made echoing loudly, until I was pushed through a door. Inside the room was a metal table with leather straps, some vials on a table filled with colorful liquids and syringes that had dried blood scattered everywhere. A man in a lab coat was sitting in a chair, facing away and looking at a clipboard. At the sound of the door opening and closing he spun around, glasses falling to the end of his petite nose.

"Is this Mr. Curtis?" he asked.

"Yes," the guard that brought me in entered, pushing me forward and leaned against the wall. I eyed the needles and vials wearily.

"Please sit down on the table."

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked.

"I just want to help you understand yourself and your powers. No harm will become of you."

I sat down on the table, keeping a reasonable distance from the guard and scientist. "Are you going to take this off?" I struggled with the straitjacket.

"For cautious matters, no. Now, I'm going to need to inject you with a solution. It has a lower concentration than before so you won't be knocked out. Your abilities will be neutralized until our next meeting where I will be reinjecting you." The scientist picked up a syringe filling it up with a clear liquid and without any warning stuck it in my neck. My muscles clamped up and I pulled away, wincing in pain. Almost instantly, my body became weaker.

"Now can you let me out of these restraints?"

The scientist cocked his head in thought and shrugged. "I suppose so. I'm only allowing this so I could take a sample of your blood for research. He gingerly unstrapped me from the straitjacket. His body tensed when I stretched my arms.

The scientist turned around to grab the supplies to take my blood. While he was doing that, I tried to use my powers to see if the solution really worked. It did. It just looked like I had arthritis. Part of me was relieved that I didn't have to be burdened like I was but another part of me was disappointed that I couldn't do anything extraordinary.

The needle pressed into my arm, crimson blood sucking up a tube and into a compartment. I promptly ignored the warning screaming out at me that almost made me jump away.

"What happens after you figure everything out about me?" I asked as the scientist began to take the needle out and worked on patching up my arm. He froze for a brief moment, frown forming on his face. "Will I ever get to see my brothers again?"

"That information is classified."

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 _ **Switchpersonalities:**_ ***hands you a handkerchief* Wipe up your tears, proud parent.**

 _ **Cookieswafflesandfanfic**_ **: Not as hard as—that moment when I was going to put a sex joke here. Almost but then I remembered that I am almost an adult and have to try to adult. *bursts out laughing* I can't adult. I make joke now. Not as hard as my dick! *throws hands down and giggles* I don't have a dick… I was so close (another innuendo) to adulting.**


	9. Chapter 9

It was weeks of daily visits to the scientist and sitting, bound, in my cell in isolation before I was called in for the second time in the day. The guard pushed me in the room and I sat down on the table. He looked at me gruffly and I subconsciously ducked into myself. I hoped that they would trust me even just the slightest, but, to them, I am a hazard.

"So, I think I found the basis of your abilities," the scientist stared, pulling out some pictures. "If you look here… your cells are doubled the amount of a normal human and are continuing to rip apart and doubling. They are, of course, growing smaller each time they replicate. On a closer examination, not visible to the human eye, you can see a thin line of a glow that is surrounding the cells. I believe that the explosion has mutated a great number of your cells and eradicated the rest. If it wasn't for those cells beginning to replicate at such a fast rate as it did, you would have been dead.

"From the skin swabs that I took, you have the same sort of thing going on. You are literally glowing. I believe that all of this has something to do with your mind. Now, when we got a look at your brain, we noticed that there was a flare in the radioactive neuroimaging scan we took. Your brain is going through the same thing as your body—possibly as a control room or a power house. There's a lot more movement. I would assume that that's why your eyes glow when you use your powers. Your retinas reflect the flashes from your brain.

"Of course, this is all just a hypothesis. The drugs that you are on, neutralizes this, unfortunately. I won't be able to declare this as true unless we take you off of the drugs. Which brings another problem: you. We don't know the limits to your power or if you'll try to escape, which, in usual cases, people do. We can't make any chances," he explained.

It was a lot of information to take in for a short amount of time. I blinked, trying to register everything he had just said. When I finally processed the last part, my eyes slightly grew. If there was any chance to take the straitjacket off, I had to take it. My arms were probably forever glued to my body from the lack of movement. They had only let me take it three times in the couple of weeks—all for retrieving blood samples.

"Am I going to stop taking the medication and not wear this straitjacket? I won't do anything to get away. I just want to stop wearing this," I desperately pleaded.

The scientist gave me a look, harsh stare wavering like he was contemplating it. His eyes shifted to the guard. "I am not permitted to do so." My heart dropped. "But, I will have to prescribe you to a new medication. You may return to your cell."

The guard dragged me off of the table and brought me back to my cell. I leaned back against the wall as the door closed, the silence washing over him again. No one really spoke to each other, even though we wanted to. I guess we were all scared that something would happen to us if we broke the silence. I wished we could talk but no one trusted each other anymore.

The next day, I was taken back to the scientist. He did his daily checkup and got ready the syringe filled with the antibiotics. He went to my neck and I got ready for the twinge of pain, but right before the needle could touch, the scientist pulled away and placed the needle down.

I gave him a confused look, having the urge to touch my neck. He put a finger over his lips and managed to make it look like he was thinking, but I knew. I was beyond confused, but knew better not to speak up about it. With a wink, the scientist ushered me out to my cell.

I was restless that night. It felt like my entire body was vibrating; like my skin was crawling. It felt like I was on a sugar rush and I wanted to jump around everywhere. I looked at my feat, eyes dried from being wide open. The molecules were jumping around, moving around the air at a rapid speed.

It didn't really change the next day. I was hyperactive the whole night—at least, I thought it was night. I can't really tell with the lack of windows and all. Nonetheless, I went without sleep again. How could I?

Again, I was brought to the scientist and he looked absolutely excited. As soon as I plopped down on the table he turned to the guard and asked, "Can you go and check if Ponyboy's medication has come in?" The guard grunted and looked at Ponyboy. "Don't worry, he can't do anything."

The guard left the room and the scientist spun towards me with a smile. "Has your powers returned?" he asked.

"I can't really tell with the straitjacket on and all but I did notice signs… Why did you not drug me yesterday?" I asked.

"As a scientist, it is my job to find out everything that I could about what I am studying. I need to take more samples so I will remove the straitjacket." I nearly cried out in joy then and there as I waited anxiously for him to help remove my restraints. As soon as it hit the ground I stretched my limbs. It hurt at first from my joints locking in place, but it was the best feeling in the world. "Interesting…" He was staring at the areas where my molecules were bouncing around and grabbed a jar. "May I?"

I nodded and the scientist scooped some of the molecules and closed the lid. "Before the guard comes back, I'll like to see you preform your power. Try lifting something."

Once again, I nodded and held out my hand to form a ball. It was shaky, like it was about to break. I had difficulty to have it remain in that shape. I could only assume that it was because of the lack of use. I tossed it at his clipboard. It didn't take much movement to fling it upwards—in fact, it was way too easy to move. The clipboard almost crashed into the ceiling before I lowered my hand, and, even then, it almost slammed into the ground. It only took a couple of millimeters of movement in the hand to lift the clipboard up a couple of feet.

The scientist grabbed another jar and grabbed part of the glow that I expelled and placed it next to the other jar. In both jars, the contents were hitting against the glass, not even getting close to breaking it. I moved a bit and the molecules changed directions to follow me.

"Interesting…" the scientist muttered again. He was staring at the jars. "It would seem like they are trying to return back to you… Anyways, when you were using your powers, I noticed that it was out of control. I think that happened because of the glow, whatever it is, boomed when it wasn't under the drug… like a slingshot, for example. This could be why your body is separating on occasion."

He grabbed a needle and a tube to take my blood right when the door opened and the guard marched right in. "The package won't come for a while," he said, raising an eyebrow at me without the straitjacket on.

My blood was drawn from me and I was sent back to my cell without being drugged.

I could have escaped the cell now that my abilities weren't neutralized by the drugs. It would have been easy, but the problem was after that. I still didn't know where I was or my way around this facility or how many guards there were. Last I checked, I couldn't handle two guys at the same time. I had to just wait for now until I could figure everything out.

 **o-o-o**

My test results were examined in a day and I was again sent to the scientist. Again, the scientist sent the guard away to check on something for him. "So there is a common element in your samples. Whenever you use your powers, you are sending off your molecules of your skin, blood, bones; etcetera. That's why they want to return back to you so much." He opened the jars and the content flew straight at me and morphed into me. "There seems to be a lot more activity in your arms. Maybe it's because they are closer to your brain, I don't know. Your arms are like a concentration point—like a witch's wand. I don't think you are able to use your feet as a concentration point, right?"

"No," I answered.

"I see. Well, moving onto your blood. They had indeed become more rapid. This is the explanation for the healing factor that you were telling me about. Since there is more blood, you can create blood clots a lot faster than normal humans and your skin will mend the outside appearance. But, you would still need to be careful. This doesn't mean you can't die. If you are stabbed or shot in the head or heart, you will die, of course. If you block air from entering you or fell off of a high building, or something, you will die. You basically die like a human, though you will blead out a lot slower.

"It also seems like you can't die from an illness because of the rapid growth in numbers of your white blood cells. Your white blood cells are like a giant ant colony defending the home. Have you ever accidently placed your hand next to an ant colony and have hundreds of ants get on your hand in a second? It's like that.

"This can't be proven yet, but I think that if you lost a limb, you are able to mend it back to use. This also brings up another problem. You won't be able to use your powers if both of your arms are lost because there is no concentration point."

"Why do you keep talking about injuries?" I asked.

The scientist's body went rigid and he bit his lips. "I shouldn't say."

"If it's about my own health, then you have to tell me. What's going to happen to me?"

"This isn't under my control… I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" I started to freak out.

"I'm sorry for what the government is going to do to you."

 **o-o-o**

 **Shout out to** _ **cookiesandwafflesandfanfic**_ **for their review :)**


	10. Chapter 10

" _The government is going to send you to war_." His melancholy words rung in my ears. It took a long moment for the sentence to process in my brain. I didn't want to believe it.

"What?" I choked out, mouth slightly ajar.

"You're being drafted for war. They think that the powers would save the lives of our soldiers."

"I can't go. I'm fourteen. I still have a life to live."

"It doesn't seem to matter to them," the scientist said, looking sad. "If you somehow are killed, it would be getting rid of the threat of you and the other mutated people. They just have to put that you died in combat and that would be that. Simple for them."

"When do they plan to send us?" I asked, pressing my lips into a straight line. I really couldn't believe that this was passed. If I could, I would be clenching my trembling hands into fists. My heart was racing. I didn't know what I felt more: anger or fear.

"I don't know. Probably soon. They haven't given a notification yet."

"And you're just going to let them take us and use us as weapons?"

"I have no authority over this. Sorry… It's wrong to send you as well as the other students against their wills. It's wrong to even have drafting, but we need soldiers. I'm really sorry about this…"

I looked away to mostly hide the clear view of my tornado of emotions. "Yeah, whatever."

The guard returned and took me to my cell. I had to tell the others, but would they even listen or believe me? What I am about to tell them is hard to believe. Then again, what's the point? It wasn't like we could do anything about it. We were birds in cages. I, for what I know, was the only one taken off of the drug. I couldn't go by myself, and, even if I did take someone, they wouldn't have the power to help and would only hold us back. Escape was futile. If I couldn't escape, I was definitely not going to tell them. There would be an uproar and then all fingers would be pointing at me, and I didn't want to find out what would happen if anyone found out that I was taken off of the drug and was told their secret.

I sat down in my cell until my eyes could no longer hold open.

 **o-o-o**

Everything about me felt weak. I awoke to my body feeling like it was on fire. It was hard to breathe and my vision was hazy. I squeezed my eyes shut in an attempt to clear away the haze, but when I reopened my eyes, my vision was even worse. Rolling on my stomach, I used my knees to push myself to my feet. It was a mistake. As soon as the blood rushed from my head, I nearly toppled over again. The room spun around me into a blur. I leaned my body against the wall, feeling my stomach lurch. I tried to go to the glass wall to call out to a guard so I could go to the bathroom, but when I took my first step, the molecules of my foot separated and I fell. With a short groan, I got myself back to my knee to walk forward (though it wasn't the same as walking on his feet) but my stomach lurched again and I threw up stomach acid.

The corners of my eyes were like closing curtains. The last blurry image I saw was a golden glow.

 **o-o-o**

"What happened? I thought you were giving him the suppressant," a man I didn't recognize said.

"I was! This might be a side effect. This drug wasn't tested on a long-run since we had to make the perfect solution just for him. Just one shot of the solution is enough to paralyze, and almost kill, a normal human. He has to take it every day. There's bound to be side effects," another, who I recognized as the scientist, said.

"You say that like he is a human. I will not tolerate anyone who considers that _mutant_ a human being. Just figure this all out before he wakes up. We can't afford any trouble."

"Yes, sir."

There was a moment before the scientist's voice boomed like he was right next to me. "How do you feel?" he asked.

I gargled out words and hoped that he could understand me. "…'m hot. Feels like 'eath."

"Well you have a high fever. We would have moved you to the infirmary but we can't…really move you. But that's okay. You'll be taken care of here." Something was happening to my body but I couldn't tell. "This is my fault. I shouldn't have all of a sudden taken you off of the drug. Your body is going through a withdrawal. It's going to feel like absolute shit and you're going to feel like you're going to die, but you can get through it. I can start putting you back on the drugs…"

"No. No 'ore."

"Didn't think so."

I was tired—more tired than I have ever been. My eyes closed again and I passed out.

 **o-o-o**

I was like that for a few days. It was hell. I couldn't move or see clearly and my throat burned from my constant throwing up. I was lucky someone was there to clean it up before I could fall into the vomit. It felt like I was dipped into lava.

Finally, the fever disappeared and I was left stuck in the room again, still off of the drug.

Everything was silent again and I mildly missed the company. All of a sudden, the hall outside the cells was filled with a thunder of footsteps. I looked up from my feet and my eyes almost popped out from their sockets.

Standing with a group of other people was the gang. They looked around, not quite noticing me. I was excited to see them and almost jumped to the window, but I couldn't move my legs. I was scared. I pressed myself farther into the corner of the cell. I didn't want them to see me like this. I wish I was that guy who could camouflage into his surroundings right now.

People passed by my cell, eyes wide with wonder and anxiousness before moving on. It felt like I was an exhibit. I finally understood what zoo animals felt: trapped in tight confinements with eyes on me all day.

Please don't see me. I pleaded these words on repeat but I knew they were going to see me. There wasn't any place to hide.

My stomach twisted up in nervousness and felt like I was going to throw up again. They were going to see a monster in here. I didn't want to look at their faces.

My body jumped a little when there was a bang on the glass. Two-Bit stood there, hands on the glass. His eyes were wide as his face was flattened on the window. He had a huge smile on his face before it fell as if he realized something.

"I found him!" he called out, and, in a few seconds, the rest of the gang joined him on the other side of the window. I watched their eyes shift from relief to something I couldn't place.

"Oh, Pony…" Soda muttered, face somber and bags painted under his eyes.

"H-Hey…" I greeted awkwardly. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were brought here to see you."

I looked at everyone that weren't my brothers. "Did you tell them?"

Darry nodded. "Of course. Listen, what you did back there…"

"I want to see!" Two-Bit chirped.

"We all want to see," Dally included. Johnny and Steve nodded in reply.

I chuckled, relief washing over me. I was glad that they accepted me, but they haven't seen anything. "I can't. I'm stuck in here. Even if I could get out of this straitjacket…" I struggled to go to the window. I couldn't quite stand yet, since I was still recovering, so I had to practically crawl there. The gang looked at me pitifully. I was ashamed of myself for being so weak and pathetic. I leaned my side into the glass and breathed out. From where I sat, I could count a large number of armed guards standing around. "I doubt I could even move my arms."

"Golly, how long have you been like that?" Johnny asked, bending down to be eye level with me.

"Practically 24/7. I only took this straitjacket a couple of times." A tear fell onto the tile floor. I didn't even notice that I was crying. I was practically bawling my eyes out. I couldn't wipe the tears away, so, instead, I curled into myself and rested my forehead against my knee. It was embarrassing to see me cry like this. The last time was when my parents died. "I'm scared. I don't want to be here anymore."

"Why are you scared?" Darry asked. "As soon as the government sees that you aren't a threat, you'll be able to come back."

I shook my head, realization hitting me. "That's not true."

"I'm sure it is," Soda comforted.

"No, it's not."

"Kid, tell us why," Steve said.

I choked. They should know but I know they would have an uproar. Oh well… If they kill me, it's not like they weren't sending us to war in hopes. "The reason why you're here is so that I could say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Johnny asked.

"Promise me that none of you would react to what I'm about to tell you. They don't know that I know."

"Just tell us, kid!" Dally ordered.

"I've been told that we're, us mutants, are going to Russia to fight in the war. They want to use us as a weapon that would get Russia to surrender, like the atomic bomb during World War 2. They also wish to get rid of us. Killed in combat, you know? If we're killed, there isn't anything on them." I looked up from my knees to look at their expressions.

All of them were shocked, like they didn't know how to react. "You're kidding!" Darry practically yelled, earning attention from the people surrounding him.

"Darry…"

Before Darry could speak again, guards walked over. "Is there a problem here?" All the guards looked at me pointedly as if they heard what I said.

"Yes, there is!" Darry said.

"By all means, tell us."

By now, everyone was looking at us. "You're sending them into war. That's sick."

"I will suggest you calm down, sir."

People started to mumble to others in horror at what Darry said.

"Ponyboy isn't even fifteen yet!"

"Sir, would you calm down?"

"You're sending them to war?" someone asked.

"Not my baby!" another screamed.

Everyone started to scream and yell and pushed each other. What used to be calm was now a hectic mess. The guards tried to calm everyone down but was only yelled at and demanded for answers.

A gunshot quieted everyone down in an instant, and, from where I sat, a man stood out. "Let's start a deal, shall we?"

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 _ **Cookieswafflesandfanfic:**_ **I love that reaction xD. It really cracked me up. Oh, and sorry for not replying last chapter. I really didn't know how to reply, unless you wanted something like, "Yes it did escalate fast."**

 _ **AMAzing202:**_ **Thank you. :D Unfortunately, this was a filler episode, but I can assure you action soon.**

 _ **Dorianimeyaoilover:**_ **Haha, no. I don't plan to cut off his arms. It was just some extra information on his powers. I'll promise you that I won't do that to him.**

 _ **Switchpersonalities:**_ **Sadly, there will be child soldiers somewhere in the world, unless we somehow reach world peace.**


	11. Chapter 11

"Well, get on with it!" someone from the crowd of people shouted.

"Yes, it is arranged that these mutants are going to fight against Russia. But, if they survive the war, somehow, we will allow them freedom from confinement, but under a watch. If they try anything while under the watch, they will be taken back here," said the man who worked here.

"That doesn't change the fact that most of them are probably going to die!" another person screamed.

"None of them been to war or know what to expect. You can't just throw them into something if they have no chance in completing the deal!" a lady yelled.

"Oh, I know. We can't do anything about that. Finish talking to each other. In a few minutes, you will all be escorted back to the plane," the man said, practically chuckling. He jumped down from what he was standing on and disappeared from sight.

Soda spun around again and placed both of his hands on the glass. He spoke quickly, panicked that he would run out of time. "Listen, Pony, you have to survive."

"How will I do that?" I asked. I want to survive. I want to be free from here and be back home. But, a kid, with no experience, has no chance in war. It makes it even worse

"Just don't do anything. Stay out of trouble. Avoid any combat and escape."

"Yeah, kid, don't do anything that would get you killed. Your notorious for not using your brain," Steve spoke up.

"I don't want to go…" I whimpered.

Before anyone could say anything, a handful of guards walked up to us and started to escort the gang out. I didn't notice this earlier, but the hall was pretty empty. We didn't get much of a goodbye. The guards were practically pressing guns to their back so they wouldn't try anything. I watched their backs disappear around a corner and fell into despair again.

My eyes were red and puffy, cheeks stained with the trails of tears. My hands were still trembling. I was still sitting against the glass when the same man who made the deal practically slammed his fists on the window. I jumped back, pushing away from the glass with my legs.

"We need a small talk," he growled, glaring into my soul. "I've been told that you are the reason for the uproar. How did you find out? You couldn't have just found out on your own. Someone would have helped you."

I could only stare back at him as I swallowed the lump in my throat. I couldn't deny it. It was obvious that it was me. I wondered what was going to happen to me. Were they going to punish me? There couldn't be more of a punishment besides sending me to war.

"I'll need to have a personal talk to Dr. Wright."

I never saw the scientist again.

 **o-o-o**

The roar of the engine in the plane muffled the shouts of the guards that were on either side of the line of uniform-clad mutants. There had been more of us than I thought there was, but still a small number. We were loaded inside and placed in seats.

The plane was small. It wasn't like an actual soldier transportation plane that could hold like a hundred soldiers. They wanted to ship us there away from the other recruits just in case we decided to attack them. A few days ago, the other mutants were taken off of the drug so that they could get over the withdrawal. Those days were practically hectic. The quiet hall was filled with bangs from people slamming against the walls, whimpers, and conversations from everyone who worked there. Since those few days, there have been even more guards and more restraints.

A few guards walked down the row, stopping at each one of us to place the seatbelts on as well as take the constraints off of us. The guard stopped in front of me and unstrapped me from the straitjacket, much to my relief, then strapped me in. I tried to stretch my arms, but every guard turned to me and pointed their weapons. I lowered my hands.

A minute passed and the doors closed and the plane shot up into the sky. The plane rocked back and forth and I was glad that I didn't have motion sickness. It was going to take many hours before we arrive.

Each passing moment was worse than sitting in the cell like I had before. I was closer to death each second. When we were about an hour away from entering Russian territory, we were all exhausted. It was nearly impossible to take a nap on the rocking plane and our anxiety made sure to keep us awake.

"Remember, in war, it's kill or be killed," was the last thing that I heard before the plane landed. We unstrapped our seatbelts. The plane door opened and we were practically all pushed outside. Our feet pressed into the grass. I was glad that it was summer instead of winter. History knows that we would never win if it was winter. In the distance, there were gunshots.

The doors of the plane closed and soon took off again. I took a shuddered breath. Here we go.

None of us knew what to do. We weren't sure what to do, since we weren't given squadrons or instructions besides to kill. None of us knew where exactly we were or where the nearest town is or city was.

"Where are you going?" one of the mutants asked. I turned my attention to the commotion. A couple people were going separate ways, spreading away from the group.

"I don't know what you guys are going to do, but I'm going to help our country and try to get this war over with," one of them answered.

"I'm going to try to avoid trouble," another answered.

"We should stay in a group!" another exclaimed.

"Are you kidding me? We are more visible as a group. I want to live!"

"Y'all could hide, but the longer the war takes place, the longer we're stuck here. If anyone wants to help, come with me," the person before said. Everyone stayed where they were, hesitant on what to pick. Most of them were leaning more on the hide side, because they knew that killing was wrong. I, myself, knew that I wouldn't be able to kill anyone. I wasn't tuff like that. Slowly, people began to take sides. More people than I thought, took the war side. I had to take the hide side.

I watched the group of mutants leave with the other mutants that were about to take their separate path. When they were out of sight, I started to walk one way slowly, wishing I had some company. I didn't want to go alone, but everyone was set on not being seen as much as possible.

There was a loud boom behind me. I felt hot pressure against my back that reminded me of when my school was bombed. I swerved around and wished that I haven't. A mine has been set off. Fortunately, I, as well as the other mutants, were far enough away to not be caught in the mess. Unfortunately, the person that set it off didn't make it. Their body was a mutilated. The skin was blasted off of the body, making the face unrecognizable. Chunks of their body were thrown around like confetti.

I tore my attention away, the image burning in my mind, right when there was the first gunshot.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 **Cookieswafflesandfafic: I'm so sorry T_T. I don't know how to make it up to. I am so ashamed of myself and my awkwardness.**

 **Dorianimeyaoilover: I mean, it's sort of good.**

 **Guest: No?**


	12. Chapter 12

Immediately, I hit the ground out of impulse. My arms concealed my head in a protective demeanor. People around me screamed as gunshots flew overhead. I peeked up, vision marginally thwarted by the lush grass. Through the foliage, hidden by the shade, there was movement, almost imperceptible. I saw the gleam of, what I thought were, guns. I couldn't tell how many people were dead, if there were any. Everyone was on the ground, cowering, like I was.

The hairs on my arms stood on their ends. A bullet thudded, making a small crater, a few inches from my face. Above me, the wind howled. Dark clouds formed, and, in a moment, lightning flashed down, illuminating the shadows. The trees lit on fire, spreading as fast as it had started. There was more movement before people scrambled out, clad in camouflage. They dove to the ground, practically turning invisible again.

I couldn't stay here. I would be dead before I could even say the damn word. My legs felt like lead as I began to push myself to my feet. I couldn't bring myself to look down to check on the others to see I they had a plan or not. I didn't want to see them dead.

A few bullets whizzed past me, before one almost impaled me in the gut. I casted a shield in the last second. The bullet pricked the shield. I was lucky that I was able to contain the shield with little difficulty.

Should I run or should I fight? I promised the gang that I would try to stay out of trouble. I could easily kill myself if I try to help. In the end, survival is the most important thing, but I knew that there were mutants here who didn't have a power to fight back or protect themselves. What do I do? I can't leave them to die. That guilt would eat me alive.

Another bullet hit my shield, followed by another; then another. I grunted as my shield cracked.

I had to escape. Well, that would have been the best option. I guess I wanted to be gallant or I was just not listening to my head, that was, for a surprising moment, thinking. I had to do something.

The soldiers were just out of my range. I pushed myself from the ground and into the air, high enough to be a hard target and low enough to not be a beacon to any planes and whatnot. I propelled myself forward, startling the soldiers. I sent out a wave, similar to the one when I was first practicing my powers. The golden beam slammed into the soldiers' chests, knocking them onto the grass. One-by-one, I disarmed them, throwing their weapons to the side. I raised my hands, ready to use my powers again if I had to knock them out—I didn't want to kill them.

The danger wasn't over. More gunshots flew around me. More soldiers popped out from the grass. The other mutants were struggling to defend themselves. I barely had enough time to turn back around when the soldiers that I have knocked down shot bullets that whizzed over my head. One of them threw a grenade that rolled to my feet.

My heart stopped. In the last second, I put up a shield as the bomb exploded. As soon as the blast hit, the shield broke. The blast sent my flying backwards into something hard. My spine bent the wrong direction, cracking, causing me to gasp loudly before I slammed into ground.

My ears were ringing, vision hazy. I couldn't process my surroundings. People ran around me. I didn't move—not even when the ringing stopped and I could register everything. I was still completely taken over by fear. I focused my eyes and nearly recoiled and threw up. Lying in front of me was a dead body. Their mouth was ajar and eye dully staring past my own. Their other eye had a gaping hole from where the bullet went through.

I probably lied there for what seemed like an hour, horrified, before everything just stopped. There were no more gunshots, no more thunder, no more screams. Just nothing besides the soft sound of footsteps on the delicate grass.

Again, I froze. The footsteps were getting closer to me. I wondered if it was a soldier or one of the mutants. Not wanting to take the risk and look, I played dead. I stared at the body—as much as I didn't want to, unblinking, and opening my mouth slightly. I held my breath as the figure stood in front of me. I didn't dare look up. I just looked at their bloodstained combat boots.

The figure scrutinized me closely, probably checking if I was dead or not. He or she (it was hard to tell) kicked me a couple of times. I made my body grow limp, and let my body be flopped over so that I was facing the cloudy sky, to my little relief.

The person spoke in Russian to other people who responded back. They kicked me again and continued to stare at me. My body had that weird sensation of simultaneously being hot and cold. At each passing second, my heartbeat grew faster and harder, to the point where I believed the whole world can hear me. I wanted to shut my eyes shut to wish it away, but I couldn't. Instead, I wished that they wouldn't check my pulse.

As if they were reading my mind, the person bent down, reached their hand over, getting ready to check my pulse.

Without thinking, I shot up, pushing the Russian away, and made a break for it. There wasn't anywhere to hide besides the flaming forest. They tried to shoot at me, but, luckily, they missed and I ducked behind a tree just in time. Bullets hit the tree or skidded the sides. I could feel each thump.

Smoke filled my lungs. I coughed and covered my nose and mouth with my hand. I looked back to see the soldiers all looking at me where it was safe from the fire. Besides them, there were a number of bodies. I swallowed the little spit that I had down my dry throat, and turned around to get rid of the sick feeling in my stomach.

The bullets stopped, but I could still feel their eyes trained on the tree. They weren't going to move any time soon and I couldn't go back. I went deeper in the smoky forest. My hair was practically a goner now. All of my hair was singed and a centimeter or an inch shorter. My body was covered in burns and broiling skin. Every second, I coughed. It was hell.

I squandered through the burning debris, mind swimming. I couldn't get everything that just happed out of my mind. Vivid images of the bullet-torn bodied. Their eyes were dull. Their cold skin covered in their own blood. The images so simple, yet traumatizing. An image so wrong and offsetting that it haunted me and made me sick. Their bodied weren't like the ones after the bomb at school, but the fire that suffocated me made the bodies seem all the same.

The smoke was probably getting to me, my vision swam. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. All I saw was a fiery hell before my body couldn't take it anymore. I hit the ash covered ground and waited to be scorched alive.

 **o-o-o**

 **Sorry for the late update. Something came up and I had to go halfway across the country for almost two weeks. Sorry.**

 **Replies:**

 **Rayray0528: Thank you! I'll try my best on future updates!**

 **Justslaygold: I'm going on a whim that your speechlessness is a good thing, and not a bad thing?**

 **Cookieswafflesandfanfic: I'm glad I didn't too. I'll be honest, I did think about a twist, but, then thought, if I took it away, then what was the point of the buildup? My story would just flop. Thanks for reading!**

 **Guest: That's actually interesting to know. It's a shame that child soldiers, as well as soldiers in generals, have to be used sometimes.**

 **Animefreakcasa: Thank you! I try my best to get his character accurate. It's not accurate, but I try to see it through his eyes and try to collaborate with his actions in the book.**

 **Guest: Thanks :)**


	13. Chapter 13

When I woke up, I no longer felt the heat from the fire that I had collapsed in. I was not lying in the ash covered ground, but, instead, an almost soft, but not necessarily hard, surface. _Am I dead?_ I wondered.

A high-pitched voice practically screamed in Russian from above me. Well, I'm not dead. I looked over to see a little girl, around four or five years old, pulling her mother closer to me. The mother spoke in Russian too.

She touched my bandaged arms, gave me a gentle smile. I gave her a curious, confused look when she spoke again. After realizing that I couldn't understand her at the moment, she began to unwrap my bandages. As she was doing so, she kept her eyes locked onto mine to prevent me being nervous.

When she finished unwrapping, her eyes fell to my arms, eyes widening in shock. She was expecting to see burns, and not blank arms. She gasped and stepped away. She screamed for her husband who ran in the room in a second.

The two argued before he ran out of the rom and came back with a kitchen knife gripped tightly in his calloused hands. I bolted from the bed and scrambled away. My eyes were locked onto the knife.

The little girl screamed and backed away from her father, tears in her eyes. Her mother held her close.

"Wait, put the knife down!" I pleaded, holding my hands out to show that I meant no harm, but the action caused all of them to flinch. I lowered my hands in shame.

The man screamed at me and all I could do was flinch at his tone. I could tell from their shaky form that he didn't even want to be pointing the knife at someone. I didn't blame him.

"I'm not going to hurt you." They couldn't understand me, but I had a feeling that they knew what I was trying to say. The man slightly lowered the knife before saying something else. The mother and child left the room. The father and I stared into each other's eyes. I clenched my clammy hands as I waited for whatever was going to happen to me.

I didn't dare move an inch, afraid that he was going to attack at the slightest movement. All I could move were my eyes. I glanced at my clothes, which were not the uniform I wore when I landed in Russia. My uniform was probably burnt to the point where it was unwearable, and they changed my clothes. That must have been why they couldn't recognize me as an American.

The door was pounded on before it swung open, chipping the wall behind it. Armed men marched in, face shrouded by dark masks. Behind the small row were a couple who weren't armed. For some reason, the people in the back were more unsettling. They practically screamed out 'danger'. I shivered.

The father filled them in and dread washed over me. I was fairly certain that I could slip out of this house alive before. I shouldn't have let the mother leave to call authorities. The soldiers screamed at me. I guess they were instructing for me to do something because they grabbed me after a moment. Everything dawned onto me.

I struggled against their hold and twisted my hand, blasting them away. The unarmed people stepped forward, and, before I knew it, I was flung through the front door. Heads turned my way, but I didn't have time to look around. A shadow cast above me. I looked up, fearful of what I would see.

Instead of one of the unarmed soldiers, there was a gorilla. The gorilla stomped to me, raising both fists in the air before swinging it down.

At the last second, I casted a shield. The gorilla kept pounding its fists, like a drummer. The shield cracked each time. Before the shield broke, I dove out of the way. The gorilla screamed before transformed into a lion right before my eyes.

 _Shapeshifter_. That thought surprised me. Why was a shapeshifter working for the other side? I couldn't dwell on the question for long. The lion lunged at me and I grabbed it with my powers and suspended the lion in the air. The lion turned back into human form.

"Why are you doing this?" I demanded, but before he could answer, if he could in English, a piercing, high-pitched screech came from the door. My brain raddled inside my head and my eyes felt like they were going to pop out. My hands shot to my ears, dropping the shapeshifter. I tried to block out the sound that was ripping out my ears. I dropped to my knees and screamed, but I doubt that anyone could hear me, even if they were standing one meters away.

My particles separated and I shakily looked over at the source. The other unarmed soldier stood at the door, mask taken off, and hands acting like a megaphone. I tried to send the soldier flying, but every time I casted anything, it would dissipate.

I was going to die. I watched my particles fly away from me at an alarming speed. I closed my eyes, hope leaving me.

Another miracle happened. The sound stopped and was replaced by screaming. My ears were bloody and ringing. I looked at what had happened as I started to reform.

A bullet had dug into the soldiers arm. The shapeshifter turned back into a lion and lunged at the soldier that shot the gun. From the whole hectic mess, I saw the United States uniform. Even though I was weak, I pulled the soldier away just in time. The lion rushed passed him and slid on the ground. I kept pulling the soldier around like a rag doll, trying to keep him alive.

The mutant that had almost killed me, opened his mouth to start screaming again, but I flicked my other hand and threw him to the opposite side. The armed soldiers exited the house and started blindly firing at me. I threw them again, but that left me wide open.

Again, the mutant screamed. I threw everyone, even the American soldier, aside, and pushed myself into the air to avoid getting myself killed. The blast of the scream broke the windows to the house that I woke up in, and began to shatter the walls. My mind drifted to the little girl and her family. They were still in there. Even though, they were the reason for all of this, I owed them my life for pulling me out of the fire.

As the roof collapsed and I landed back on the ground. I made a canopy to catch the ceiling and rubble from falling. The roof was heavy and it took both of my hands to keep it up. There was firing behind me and roars. A bullet entered my back and I screamed out in pain, almost dropping the roof. Another bullet hit me, not too far from my heart. Everything felt weak, but I kept up the canopy until the family ran outside. I let everything drop.

Blood was pooling form me fast, but I didn't have any time to deal with that now. I hit the screaming mutant against the wall, knocking them unconscious. My vision started to grow dark, but I hit all of the armed men away.

The US soldier turned all of his attention to the beast. His bullets only irritated the shapeshifter. I staggered over, raising both of my hands and moved them in that weird looking way I do. Gold engulfed the shapeshifter. I pushed one of my hands down to the ground, crippling the animal. I kept pushing, even though I was about to pass out. The ground under it began to crack, before it made a crater, and then a hole. I let my hands drop to my side at the same time as the shapeshifter transformed back into a human that fell on the ground. His mask was shattered from the pressure I put him through. I looked at his face, only to see a blank canvas. There was no face.

I began to collapse, unable to hold myself up, but I was caught by the soldier.

"Whoa there!" he said in shock. He let out a worried chuckle. I lazily looked at his shaved head. "Hey, you're one of those mutant guys, right? Can you do anything about your wounds? You're losing blood, fast."

 _No, I'm not bleeding that fast. I don't have two bullets inside of me,_ I sarcastically thought. "I need to get the bullets out first," I quietly answered, not having much energy at all. It was a strange sensation. I felt pain, but, in the same time, I was numb. It was really hard to describe. Maybe it was the adrenaline.

I raised my arms and with the last bit of energy, ripped both of the bullets out with my powers, with a cry. The bullets fell to the ground in a clatter. Instantly, I felt the bullet holes heal.

The soldier stood up and carried me out of the way of the public, who was for sure to call for more soldiers to eliminate us. He kept staring in shock as I was healing. "Don't go to sleep on me, man. We still have a war to fight."

"Mm…" I mumbled. "I'm fine. What's going to happen now?"

"Finish the war as soon as possible. I was going to try something, but my whole squadron was killed."

Sadness was laced into his voice. I decided not to ask. "What did you plan to do?"

 **o-o-o**

 **Reply:**

 **Cookieswafflesandfanfic: That moment when you realize that the ending is coming soon.**


	14. Chapter 14

We had been walking for a while. Slowly, as if the smallest noise would attract everyone over to the. Careful, as if they would step on a trap. They had escaped to the outskirts of the city, figuring that it would be safer to move around that way.

The soldier had explained that his squadron had been on the way to the capital since the only way to end this war is for one side to surrender. My first thought was the bomb droppings during World War II, but I didn't think that he meant doing something as destructive. The squadron meant to capture the current leader of the Soviet Union, but their plan failed when there was more waiting than guns.

"The damned communists, they have people like you. They have powers. I'm guessing they were testing new formulas for explosives and they were caught in faulty experiments," he explained.

"What do you want me to do? Are you expecting me to charge blindly in the capital?" I asked, swallowing me saliva to wet my throat.

"You're the only hope that I have. My family probably thinks that I'm dead. I have no way to write letters to them. No way to contact any other squadron. For all they know, I'm MIA."

"I don't think I can help you."

"Please."

"I have family to get back to too. What if something happens to me?"

"The longer you stay here, the higher chance you have of dying."

"I almost died trying to knock out the two other mutants! I would have died if you weren't there. I will die if I go! They probably have a whole factory full of us! I would like to stay out of conflict."

"Even if you did stay out of the fighting, what happens if we lose the war? Do you think that you will be able to go home? Normal soldiers would, but you and the other mutants? I don't think they want you to go home at all. I'm sorry, but it's true. They would probably leave you here. What would you do then?"

"I'll fly back myself."

"I don't think you can hold your power for that long."

"I'll take a plane then."

"With what money? Are you going to mug people or steal? Are you going to threaten them? The people know of your existence. You're already feared for not being of the norm. Do you really want to make your situation worse? I just met you, and I know that you're not the type of person to do these things."

Both of us fell silent for a moment as the soldier directed me around a trap. "I made a promise," I whispered. "I promised I would try to avoid all of this."

"Promises sometimes can't be fulfilled. I promised my daughter that I would come back. I'm not sure I will, but I have to try. You have to too. Would you sacrifice yourself to save countless others? You are given this choice right now that will determine the future of the world. If you wouldn't, their blood is on your hands."

I bit my lips, stomach knotting up. I balled my fists. He was right or I was just blinded by his words. "I'm not killing anyone. What is your plan?"

 **o-o-o**

We ducked behind buildings as tanks sped by. The streets were practically empty. Only soldiers and a few others who needed supplies were roaming the streets. We were taking back alleys to avoid windows and where most people were walking.

The Soviet Union leader was in the capital building, from our understanding. The security around that place was rough.

"Alright, we obviously can't go straight through the front door…" the soldier muttered.

"Backdoors?" I asked.

"Probably just as guarded as the front. We can go under."

"Under?"

"Yes, the sewage systems run all over the city. They are under all of the buildings and streets. If we could find the one under the capital building, we could get in."

"How do we get in from under it?" I hope you don't mean what I think you mean…

"We're going up from the toilets." Of course you meant that. I guess he saw that my face practically screamed out 'are-you-kidding-me'. He chuckled. "We're going to have to remove the toilets. You're going to do that. Don't worry, I doubt nothing will happen to you."

"I really hope you're right, for the sake of all of us."

 **o-o-o**

The sewer stunk like crap. I didn't know what I was expecting. I could taste the stench. I held my hand over my nose, but it didn't help much.

The soldier turned on the flashlight on his gun and we slowly walked through the grimy tunnels. Our footsteps echoed off of the curved walls.

I hoped that we were going the right way. None of us had a map. We were mainly relying on the direction, which was hard to tell, of the building. Constantly, we had to peek outside to make sure we didn't go too far in one direction. It was a real pain.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, we stood under the pipeline that led to the toilets in one of the bathrooms of the capital building. Carefully, and as quietly as I could, I detached the pipes from one of the toilets. As I tilted it downwards, goop slid out in a chunky waterfall. I dropped the pipe and felt everything come up my throat.

"Blow the toilet up. I don't think I could stay here much longer," the soldier instructed, hand covering his mouth.

"You don't have to ask me twice."

Without caring how much noise I made (because all that was on my mind was getting out), I blasted the toilet out of the ground and set it on the tiled ground. The soldier bent down and held out his hand, which he used to lift me upwards. The bathroom was thankfully empty, but I knew that it wouldn't last.

I lifted the soldier out of the sewers and we quickly exited the bathroom before anyone could check what happened. Time to raid the building.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 **Cookieswafflesandfanfic: I have about two more chapters of this.**

 **Rayray0528: I'm trying my best, but, since school started again, it is really hard. .**


	15. Chapter 15

A groan escaped the guard's lips as he slammed into the wall. I lowered my hand as the guard flopped on the ground, nodding at the soldier that stood at my side. He grabbed the guard's legs and dragged them to a now-empty-of-conscious-people room.

We continued our light jog down the hallways, constantly knocking out soldiers and dragging bodies. We had to work fast. Get in and get out. It was a matter of time until at least a body is discovered.

We turned around another corner, only to be stopped fast by another guard. There was one second when nothing happened but us staring each other. He raised his gun but I flung him aside. He banged his head against the wall. I was going to give the solider a nod, since it was the routine, but the guard broke out in a scream that vibrated the hallway.

"Fucking hell!" the soldier cursed and kicked the guard in the head until he fell cold.

It only took as long as a snap of the fingers after that until the hallway started to flash repeatedly in red. Sirens blared, ringing my eardrums. Through all of that noise, though, I could still hear the thundering footsteps and yells coming closer.

"We have to go," I told the soldier and we both sprinted, until we found the room. Both of us couldn't read the sign, but the doors were big and different than every other door. We knocked out the guards standing in our way, ignoring their incomprehensive yells. The soldier kicked down the door and stepped back, pushing me back, just as bullets whizzed past.

He ran in a moment later, gun raised and started to shoot. I ran in blindly too, holding out my hand to create a shield around the two of us. The soldier stopped shooting and we looked around. Some of the guards that were in there were lying on the ground, bullets had torn their bodies apart. My stomach turned looking at them.

"I thought we weren't going to kill anyone," I hissed sharply at the soldier.

"There is always someone who dies in war." He answered, not looking at my eyes, but at the inhabitants in the room. There was an older man in the room, who had ducked behind the long table. There were other older men and women in there too, hiding.

Bullets crashed against my shield from the few guards that were left. "I won't be able to hold this much longer."

"On the count of three, drop the shield. I will take the guards out. You round the rest up."

"You are not going to kill anyone else."

"Do you want to die?"

"I'll take care of the guards. You round them up."

Before the soldier could say anything else, another bullet hit the shield, shattering it. I was about to push the guards back, but, out of instinct, the soldier took fire again, shooting down the guards before anyone could react. They fell down and I stared at the soldier with wide eyes, mouth gaping.

"You…" I muttered.

"We don't have any time to waste. Hold the door so no one gets in." He spun his gun around and screamed, "Get in the corner now!"

The hiding people slowly stood up, arms raised. They carefully backed towards the corner of the room. With one last pointed stare, I held the door to prevent anyone from entering.

"What do you want?" the older man asked, voice laced in a heavy Russian accent.

"I want Russia to surrender. Surrender, and all of you will be spared. "

The man's lips pressed into a thin line. "I won't do that."

The soldier shot a bullet into a crying woman. I screamed at him, but the soldier ignored me and shot another. He kept shooting over and over, letting the bodies drop, until there were only a couple left.

Another shot rang the room, but, this time, it wasn't from the soldier's gun. His gun was now sprawled on the ground, his hand bleeding. The older man had a pistol raised. He was breathing heavily. I could hear his breath from the other side of the room. "I will never surrender. You can kill me, and we will still fight on."

The soldier dropped to the ground, grabbing his gun. The older man shot again, just barely missing him. He spun around and in a moment, shot down the rest of the people. The older man, stood there, body not comprehending that he was just shot until blood oozed from his mouth, seeping to every bit of chin he had. The blood mixed with his saliva and followed the rest of the blood in a string. Then, his body gave out.

I was too in shock to move. The ground was covered in a pool of blood. I felt sick to my stomach. My arms dropped to my side. The doors slammed open and the room was flooded in a split-second. Hands grabbed at me in all directions before I was yanked backwards by the soldier. My legs felt weak so pulling me was easy, even if I didn't want to go with the soldier again.

"Come on! Let's go!" he screamed through all of the noise. "Do you want to die?"

No, I didn't. I nodded and followed him through the now-broken window. We were on the second floor, so I had to catch both of us and gently land ourselves on the ground before we took off running again. We didn't run in a particular directions besides 'away'. We didn't know if our plan worked. We just kept running. Even exhausted, we continued the run. We left the city and the homes. We made it to a forest that bordered the city. We didn't even stop then.

I was running ahead of the soldier because I didn't have to haul anything around or wasn't injured. I was surprised that I could even run this much. Even though it hurt like hell, it felt good, like I was running away from my problems—everything left in the dust. I looked ahead of me, seeing the endless row of decaying trees and blinked. When I opened my eyes again, something, or perhaps someone, was standing still, facing me. As I neared, I could make out the little features he or she had. They were dead. There was no way that they could still be alive. They were covered head-to-toe in burnt skin, red flesh replacing their skin tone. Both eyes were missing and were replaced my gapping dark abysses. Their hair was no more than a few strings and their teeth were all missing.

I pressed my heels in the ground, slowing down my run until I stopped a few inches from the being. My breaths were heavy, eyes dilated. I blinked again and they were gone. In front of me was a metal pole that was linked to two trees.

Pounding footsteps grew nearer. I turned around, looking at the soldier who kept running, unaware of the trap. I continued to stare at him, even when he passed me and into the trap.

His neck hit the pole. It would have stopped him if it were a different object instead, but, thanks to kinetic energy, his body still continued on forward. The pole dug into his neck, cutting him, until it cut completely through. His body dropped on the ground, head rolling next to it.

It took a while until everything hit me like a wrecking ball. A scream of anguish escaped me and I, myself, dropped down, arms covering my stomach. The scream turned into a choked sound as I let my war rations exit my body from my mouth. It spewed everywhere until there was nothing more to throw up but stomach acids. I sobbed and continued screaming, not caring if I attracted anyone. I slammed the ground with my fists until I calmed down, body shaking and covered in vomit and blood.

All of those deaths took more of a toll on me than I would like to admit. The one that bothered me the most was the soldier's, only because… I could have saved him, but I stood there and let him die.

 **o-o-o**

I don't remember what day it was anymore. I was told on the plane here and was keeping count, but I don't remember anything but flashes. I guess I was too exhausted to capture moments of my life. I would be walking in the morning, and then it would be night without any memory of between. Sometimes I would be in a town or city, and sometimes I would be in the forest. A lot of the time, the city and towns were only but rubble. I haven't slept much, if not at all, since that day that our plan failed. The war kept going, power passing onto someone else.

I nibbled on part of my ration. I was running out. I ran out of clean water and had to drink water from unfiltered sources. Luckily, that didn't matter to me because any parasites that would enter my body would be killed.

I was about to take another bite, when the food disappeared from my hands and the scenery changed again. People were screaming around me, pushing each other and trampling them. I was surrounded by the golden glow of my powers. My hands were raised towards the sky which also glowed gold. Planes flew around like crazy, dropping bombs onto the shield.

The world shook around me as I screamed in pain. Why was I doing this? What was even happening? Those were Russian jets. Why were they bombing their own city?

Another bomb was dropped, but, this time, my shield couldn't hold up. When it impacted and detonated on my shield, I was thrown back by the force, eyes now staring at the growing, black dots in the sky. Explosions happened around me from all directions.

I got back up, trying to put up a shield to stop the bombs, but, of course, I failed, and decided to curl up in a ball and cover myself in a shield. My life flashed before my eyes right before the world exploded around me.

I felt the unbearable familiar heat and I smelt my own broiling flesh. Oxygen left my lungs and smoke and ash refilled it. I could feel my own skin peel off of my body again and hear the continuous ringing. I was going to die. There is no way I could survive _another_ direct hit from a bomb.

 **o-o-o**

The helicopter beat the air, sending waves of wind against the plains. I looked up at the blades in my new uniform. A small smiled laced my lips and excitement made me jumpy. I stepped onto the helicopter along with a few other survivors. In a moment, the ground left from under me. I watched the rubles of cities flee my sight. For the first time in ages, I laughed.

After all this time, Russia had surrendered. They didn't want any more lives taken or cities blown up—which is ironic because they were the ones who bombed themselves. The victory didn't matter though. The only thing that mattered was that I survived. I was able to go back home for the first time in months. I was finally allowed to sleep on a bed and walk around without the thought of death again. Everything was going to be better now.

 **o-o-o**

 **Replies:**

 **Animefreakcasa: I wasn't planning it, but sure, I could do that. Thank you so much. . You make me all bashful.**

 **Kaosmagic: Thanks for reading since the beginning and giving me luck. It means a lot to me. Ew, hard work. Do you get to wear a uniform? I've always wanted to wear a uniform to school.**

 **Rayray0528: You didn't sound rude. O.O If anything, I sounded rude. I should be able to finish this story by next week. Which is good because I could focus on only one story, but bad because I really enjoyed writing this. That sad moment when, on the first day of school, you're already counting down the days. Omg, I hate the stories that take forever to update if they even do at all. I found this amazing story that was last updated in 2014 and I screamed because of the cliffhanger.**


	16. Chapter 16

I stood outside my run-down house, stomach twisting up from anxiousness. With a deep breath, I took the few steps to my front door, hearing the familiar TV blaring Mickey Mouse. My hands trembled as I looked through the window from where I stood behind the door. I caught sight of Darry reading his newspaper.

Pursing my lips, I thought about how I should meet them. Should I follow them until they start talking about me, and pop right in like I was always there? I shook my head. No, I should just enter the house. I don't want to wait any longer.

I opened the screen door, flinching at the loud, agonizing screech. There goes the element of surprise. I pushed open the front door, stepping onto the dirty carpet. Attention turned to me from everyone inside. For the longest moment, it was silent; everyone in an awkward standoff. Their jaws were left ajar and their eyes were wide like they were in awe and couldn't register what was happening. I gripped the strap of my backpack and breathed out, "Hey, what did I miss?" A small smile lifted my lips.

Soda was the first to move, throwing down his playing cards on the table, stumbling out of his chair to reach me. He captured me in a hug, tears falling from his eyes like waterfalls. My hands desperately wrapped around him as well. It has been far too long since he had embraced one of his brothers. He started to cry as well, balling Soda's clothes in my hands. My tears got his shoulders wet, but I couldn't care less. I was finally home; finally free.

"Oh, Pony," Soda kept whispering like a metronome.

Darry's muscular arms wrapped around the two of us.

I looked horrible, all puffy-eyed and red-beaten face. I didn't want to pull away, but I knew that I had too. When I stepped back, Soda looked just as stricken as I was. Darry placed a hand on my shoulder.

"You came back," he said.

"I'm home," I murmured.

 **o-o-o**

The house was like I was walking back in a distant memory. It was all so overwhelming. Everything was left untouched like I haven't left. In fact, I would have thought that I've never left if it wasn't for the gang always approaching me.

"Welcome back," Johnny said to me after Darry and Soda let me move around after they finally were sure that I wasn't an illusion. He smiled and was about to talk again, but the others approached me as well.

"Glad you're back," Steve said, shocking me. It was strange to hear those words directed at me from him.

"I'm glad to be back." I was nearly brought back to tears.

"What happened there?" Dally asked.

I think we should leave Ponyboy alone for now. This might be too much for him for now."

"I really want to know what happened to him."

"It's fine Darry," I said.

"Whoo! Story time with the magician," Two-Bit cheered, lounging next to me.

"I'm not a magician."

"You can't convince me otherwise because of what you can do."

I chuckled and gave them a briefing of what it was like. Everyone payed attention to every detail that I gave. I stopped when I was about to describe getting involved in the fight.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, looking at my shoes. "I got involved."

"It's fine. You made it out and got home safely," Soda soothed, petting my head.

"It gets worse. I could have easily saved people, but I let them get killed. I was scared. There's something wrong with me, right?"

"I mean, with what—" Two-Bit started but was shoved by Steve.

"There's nothing wrong with trying to survive. People do all kinds of things when scared. What you did just makes you human," Darry said. I nodded and yawned. "Get some sleep."

My mind drew blanks. I realized that I could finally sleep. The next thing I knew, I was crashing onto my bed, before my lights went out.

It was two days later until I woke up. I jolted away, glancing everywhere, trying to find out where I was and how I got there. Then I remembered that I was home and relaxed as much as I could while my bladder felt like it was going to implode. I scurried to the bathroom, something I've never had actual access to in a while, and left feeling relieved.

As soon as I took a step outside the bathroom doors, Two-Bit woke up, eyes looking at me in shock before he remembered that I had returned. He sheepishly smiled at me. "Was the reason that you came out here was to give me a show?" he asked cheekily. "Come on, show me something!"

"My brothers are sleeping, man," I answered, rolling my eyes, but a grin slipped onto my face.

"It doesn't have to be loud. Show me something!"

"Sometimes, I think that you're a kid trapped into an older body."

"It adds to my charm."

"Alright, don't panic," I formed a ball into my hands, flexing my nimble fingers in an odd way. Two-Bit watched in amazement before I threw it at him, lifting him up in the air. He gasped in surprise and wiggled around, waving his arms like helicopter propellers. I floated him across the room and his shock turned into amusement. He shot his arms out in front of him, imitating Superman and laughing too loudly.

"Look, I'm Superman!"

"Shh! Quiet or I'm putting you back down! I flipped him in the air. I blasted myself to be able to float to the ceiling. My brows furrowed up in concentration. Carrying myself as well as another living being was difficult. I laughed as I sent Two-Bit barreling in the air.

"Not so fast!"

"You're the free-rider. I'll do what I want."

The noise had awoken Darry and Soda from their slumber. They entered the living room with curious eyes.

"What's going on?" Soda asked. I lowered myself to the ground.

"Giving Two-Bit flying lessons," I responded, inevitably lifting Soda in the air who started to laugh along with Two-Bit. I glanced at Darry who cracked a grin at the sight of the two flying in the air. He realized that I was staring at him and he shook his head at the silent question that I asked him. Well, it wasn't really a question, it was a statement. He had no choice, but he didn't know that until I lifted him up in the air as well.

"More proof that Darry's Superman!" Two-Bit exclaimed.

"I thought you were Superman."

"I was actually imitating Darry."

Darry chuckled, ignoring the whole "Superman" conversation.

I staggered a bit, letting all of them drop a few inches. I bit my tongue lightly. I was only able to carry two items at a time and I was holding three. I let them all down before I could bring harm to them, since it only took one off-count to hurt them.

"We should prank the Socs," Two-Bit, all of a sudden, brought up.

"How?" Soda asked.

"Two words: flying car."

That's what brought us outside. Two-Bit entered his beat-up car, giving me a nod. I lifted it up with a grunt.

Two-Bit rolled down the windows as he told me to not look suspicious and to stand a ways back. Darry and Soda were to make sure that me trailing behind Two-Bit would look out of place.

Before we could leave, Johnny and Dally strolled over. They both raised their eyebrows at the sight, though they couldn't hide the look of bewilderment. They haven't seen me use my powers before.

"That's tuff," Dally said.

"Come on in, man. We're going to fly over some Socs," Two-Bit said.

"Is that okay?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, hold on," I said, and removed one of my hands, causing the car to lower slightly. I picked Johnny up and lifted him to the car. Johnny opened the door and climbed in. I looked at Dally.

"Sure," he agreed. I lifted him as well. Johnny moved to the back seats.

At that point, Steve came and was quickly filled in on what was happening. He looked stunned, and as much as I enjoyed that look on his face, I liked his annoyed one better.

"I'll get on as well," he declared.

"No," I said simply.

"What?"

"No. Do I need to say it in Spanish too?" He looked at Soda incredulously who was laughing, catching onto my joke. "You can walk."

"Come on! Let's go!" Two-Bit whined.

I moved my hand so that the car would be pushed forward ahead of me and stalked nearby. As we passed the streets, everyone stopped what they were doing, jaws dropping. Two-Bit and turned on the radio and was bobbing his head to the song that was playing. He acted cool, like nothing was wrong. We got to the Socs section soon enough and were currently passing a group of them, leaning over the newest car on the market.

"Hey, that's a nice car. Check out mine!" Two-Bit called out, lowering his music. Beads of sweat formulated on my forehead and my arms shook a bit.

"What the hell!" one of the screamed.

"Holy shit," another muttered.

The car lowered a bit.

"That's a nice car, where'd you get it?" another asked. "Actually… give it to us." He flipped out his blade and his friends did the same.

Two-Bit laughed and hollered, "How do you plan on getting to me? Can you fly like this car?"

My arm gave out and the car dropped to the ground, springing on its tires. I clutched my cramped up arm, shutting my eyes to rid of the headache that had formed.

"It looks like we can get that car now." They started to march forward, but I put up a shield so that they couldn't advance. "Why can't we move?"

Darry, Soda, Steve and I stepped forward, catching up to the vehicle with the others. The Socs turned to us. Realization crossed all of their faces.

"Are one of you one of those mutant freaks? That's how this all happened?" one of the asked. I didn't react. I've heard much worse names for me. The others weren't having it though. They glared at the Socs who leaned back from the intimidation.

One of them turned to me and spat, "It's you, right? You're that monster. Why didn't you die in Russia?"

The gang's agitation levels were through the roof. I didn't react until the Socs started to step forward. Steve took a step, but I stopped him.

"It's not worth it," I said.

"Running away now?"

I shook my head and raised my hand. If I wanted to, I could destroy his body in a clutch of my hands or pull limbs off of him without any struggle. Instead, I threw a small ball of gold at him, and concentrated it on one spot. I slightly closed my hand and twisted it. The Soc closest to me stopped his pursuit forward, twitching. His pants begun to get wet, his own piss dripping down his leg, I let his bladder go and shakily lifted the car again to start walking home.

"Man, you totally pissed yourself!" one of the Soc's friend teased, laughing.

The victim's face was red. "Screw you! I didn't piss my pants! That freak did something to me!"

We were out of hearing range at that point. The gang were all laughing at what just happened.

"That was badass!" Steve chuckled. I dropped the car again, taking a sharp intake of breath. I weakly smiled. I would have been laughing too if I wasn't exhausted.

"Golly, Ponyboy. You alright?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied. I was fine and I was free. It was still hard to believe.

There was a shadowy figure who ducked behind a wall. My smile faltered.

That's right. I was never free. I was just alright with less restraints.

 **o-o-o**

 **Thank you everyone for reading this from beginning to end. :D I hope that you really enjoyed this story. It was fun writing. I also hope to see more of you in my future stories. Thank you again for all of your support.**

 **Replies:**

 _ **Cookieswafflesandfanfic**_ **: Haha, I know what you mean by too busy for fanfiction. It sucks. Actually, summer homework sucks. But I'm glad you don't have to do that anymore, for now at least. Thank you for reading and reviewing often. Stay gold!**

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